In Togo, more than 300 phone numbers targeted by Pegasus
Project Pegasus, the gigantic spy scandal revealed Monday after months of investigation, has sparked outrage, criticism and diplomatic tensions around the world.
Thomas SAMSON AFP / File
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
More than 300 Togolese numbers appear in the list of potential targets of Israeli spyware, Pegasus, while Togo is one of the African countries closest to the Hebrew state.
Those targeted include activists, journalists and political opponents.
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On the political side, we find among the numbers targeted by
the spyware Pegasus
those of opponents to the regime of Faure Gnassingbé.
This is the case of Tikpi Atchadam, leader of the Pan-African National Party, or Agbéyomé Kodjo, unsuccessful candidate for the 2020 presidential election against the head of state.
Both now live in exile.
Activists and journalists are also targeted, such as David Ekoué Dosseh, founder of the citizen platform Togo Debout or investigative journalist Carlos Ketohou.
Contacted by RFI, the director of the newspaper L'Alternative, Ferdinand Ayité - also potentially spied on - did not say he was surprised: "
We are not naive, we know that in Togo, some people are under surveillance
".
However, the reporter admits that with Pegasus, things go further.
Because the spyware is able to suck all the information - messages, photos, contacts - contained in the infected phone and activate its microphone.
It is as if "
another person took control of our private and professional life
", observes Ferdinand Ayité.
The president does not rule out spying on his opponents
If the Israeli company NSO, which publishes and markets the Pegasus software, disputes these revelations, the Togolese authorities do not deny.
Asked by the newspaper
Le Monde
on the use of Pegasus software in Togo to fight terrorism, President Faure Gnassingbé replied that “
each sovereign state is organizing itself to face what threatens it with the means at its disposal.
"
As for the spying of his opponents, the Head of State replies that he cannot confirm it.
However, notes
Le Monde
, it does not exclude it either.
It must also be said that the country is particularly close diplomatically to Israel.
"
The government maintains privileged relations with Israeli networks run by former members of Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence agency
," said journalist Ferdinand Ayité.
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To read also: Pegasus, the spyware implicated in a new case in Togo
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Togo
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