Human rights groups and those defending media rights have expressed outrage over reports that 180 journalists around the world have been monitored through Israeli-made military-level espionage equipment. In addition to journalists, several world leaders have been under surveillance, such as French President Emmanuel Macron.
Criticism is mounting following reports that the Israeli private company NSO Group has sold the Pegasus surveillance device to several governments around the world. Some have used it to target journalists and human rights activists, and even world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Macron has called for an investigation and Israel has announced the establishment of a working group on the issue.
The NSO Group says the espionage device is intended to help apprehend criminals and terrorists.
But an international investigation launched by the Paris-based non-profit organization Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, known as the Pegasus Project, found that the device was widely used by a group of ten countries to observing journalists and activists, breaking into their cell phones and even taking control of their phone cameras.
“Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Mexico, Morocco, all these countries are well known for their anti-journalist, anti-human rights stances. And journalists are under surveillance. In Mexico, we found the phone number of a journalist in the list of those who were observed, two months later he was killed. “We also have evidence that Jamal Khashoggi’s fiancée was being monitored with that type of equipment immediately after Jamal Khashoggi’s murder,” said Laurent Richard of the nonprofit Forbidden Stories.
In Rwanda, one of the targeted journalists worked for VOA. Another Azerbaijani journalist, Sevinc Vaqifqizi, told VOA that her privacy had been destroyed.
“From now on, wherever I am, someone is with me, observing me, recording the conversations I have, researching to find out where I am. “Everywhere I go or do something, I am under someone’s control and he can see and record everything around me, whether sleeping, driving, going to the kitchen or even the bathroom,” says Sevinc Vaqifqizi, Meydan Television Journalist.
An Azerbaijani activist and blogger, Bakhtiyar Hajiyev, was jailed and physically assaulted by his country’s authorities on charges of evading military service. Investigations under the Pegasus project confirmed that his phone number was on the list of those targeted for surveillance. He told VOA on Wednesday that he constantly receives threats.
“I do not remember a single day or week that I did not receive threats. They are of various forms, cyber attacks, blackmail or defamation campaigns. “Just today, a few minutes before this interview, law enforcement agencies informed me and warned me that if I do not stop criticizing the government of Azerbaijan, they will launch a new smear campaign against me in order to damage my reputation.” says activist Bakhtiyar Hajiyev.
In a statement Wednesday, the US-based Global Media Agency (USAGM) expressed outrage over reports that more than 180 journalists, including some from VOA and Radio Free Europe, were suspected of being sophisticated spying targets.
The acting executive director of the US Global Media Agency, Kelu Chao, said that “eavesdropping on the private conversations of journalists in any form is an unscrupulous act” ./ VOA
