If Access Now does not establish the responsibility of the Jordanian state in the espionage carried out, it emphasizes that Jordan has “increased its repression of citizens’ rights and their freedom of expression”.
:quality(50)/2023/07/06/64a68815cd1a7_placeholder-36b69ec8.png)
Published
Update
Reading time: 1 min
:quality(50)/2024/02/01/080-hl-xbouzas-1513757-65bb6c5360840992160058.jpg)
Dozens of journalists and activists have been monitored in Jordan for four years using Pegasus spyware, reveals an investigation by an NGO published Thursday February 1. Access Now, which campaigns for the defense of digital rights and which worked with the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto, reports that no fewer than 35 citizens have had their phones infiltrated by Pegasus in Jordan since 2019, as well as lawyers and journalists.
Pegasus software, designed by the Israeli company NSO and capable of accessing a phone’s microphone and camera as well as its files, was at the heart of a scandal revealed in 2021 by a consortium of international editorial staff. If Access Now does not establish the responsibility of the Jordanian state in the espionage put in place, the NGO emphasizes that Jordan has “increased its repression of citizens’ rights and their freedom of expression, association and assembly”.
For Palestinian-American journalist Daoud Kuttab, whose phone was targeted three times by Pegasus software, the biggest risk is having his sources revealed. “I don’t want to inflict harm on them.”, he told AFP. He said the majority of journalists working in the Middle East expect to have their phones monitored.
According to Access Now, most of the espionage cases discovered in Jordan occurred between early 2020 and late 2023 and are believed to be linked, to varying degrees, to a 2019 teachers’ strike in the country. This mobilization led to the arrest of hundreds of teachers.
