A leak of phone data suggests human rights lawyers, activists and dissidents across the globe were selected as candidates for invasive surveillance through their phones.
Their mobile phone numbers appeared in leaked records, indicating they were selected by government clients of the Israeli NSO Group, which developed the Pegasus spyware.
The records were obtained by the nonprofit organisation Forbidden Stories and shared with a consortium of media outlets including the Guardian.
NSO has repeatedly said Pegasus, which can access all data on a device, and turn it into an audio or video recorder, is meant for use only against terrorists and serious criminals.
The selection of activists, dissidents and journalists by NSO clients paints a different picture, though one that campaigners will say was grimly predictable given the tool has been sold to some of the most repressive regimes.
The activists at risk from surveillance In Azerbaijan, where the longtime dictator Ilham Aliyev tolerates little dissent, numerous activists appear in the data. Some had their personal correspondence or intimate photographs published online or on television.
The phone numbers of six dissidents or activists in the country whose private correspondence was featured on a muckraking television programme in 2019 are listed in the leaked records.
Female activists are often targeted with sexual kompromat. In one particularly egregious case in 2019, intimate photographs of the civil society activist and journalist Fatima Movlamli, then 18, were leaked on a fake Facebook page.
Denne historien er fra July 23, 2021-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Denne historien er fra July 23, 2021-utgaven av The Guardian Weekly.
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Starlink's conquest of the Amazon leaves Brazil in a dilemma
The helicopter swooped into one of the most inaccessible corners of the Amazon rainforest. Brazilian special forces commandos leaped from it into the caiman-inhabited waters below.
Dalai Lama's mountain town feels the strain of tourist boom
SUVs and saloon cars pass slowly along McLeod Ganj's narrow one-way Jogiwara Road, blaring horns at pedestrians and scooter riders and playing loud music.
'I am all the world' The brutal rule of a West Bank settler
Palestinians tell ofblacklisted Yakov's reign across the Jabal Salman valley and heisjust one of many violent bosses
Stormy waters New flashpoint emerges in South China Sea dispute
Hopes that tensions in the South China Sea might ease have been short lived.
'Justice delayed' Why trust in public inquiries to bring closure is fading
After the final report of the Grenfell fire inquiry was published, Hisam Choucair, who lost six family members in the blaze, said: \"We did not ask for this inquiry... It's delayed the justice my family deserves.\"
Celeriac soup with almond pangrattato
I'm not ashamed to say that as soon as September hits, my stick blender comes out. Just as I embrace salads when the clocks go forward in the UK, I wholeheartedly throw myself into soup season once the summer holidays end. Autumn is approaching in the northern hemisphere and I'm ready with my ladle. Celeriac is one of my favourite soup heroes, because it gives the creamiest, silkiest finish with little effort. You don't have to make the almond pangrattato, but it is a wonderful addition.
Are smoke signals telling me to make an oil change in the kitchen?
Should you that is, not can you) cook with extra-virgin olive oil? Antonio, Atlanta, Georgia, US
Going underground
A darkly humorous encounter between an American spy-cop and the members ofan eco-commune she is hired to infiltrate
All work and no play
Hard Graft, a powerfulnew London exhibition, focuses onworkers’ exploitation, from the ruined hands ofa washerwoman to mothers forced to sell their bodies
What the princess and the shaman tell us about hereditary privilege
It should have been an Instagram-perfect wedding image, but it turned out to be something more embarrassing.