Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government have come under fire after reports of alleged misuse of Israeli spyware Pegasus.
In total, since Narendra Modi's visit to Israel in July 2017, more than 1,000 Indian issues, belonging to human rights activists, journalists, political activists, lawyers or judges or even members of opposition, were reportedly targeted.
At the Indian editorial staff of the online news site "The Wire", which is part of the consortium of 17 media outlets from around the world behind the revelations in the case, the investigation is continuing.
Its editor, Siddarth Varadarajan, claims to have been one of the targets of this spyware.
“My phone and I have been targeted,” he explains to France 24. “According to him, I am the criminal. Everything is concerned: calendar, file recoveries, instant messaging, photos, screenshots, microphone recordings, emails ... "
>> To read: Pegasus, the tree that hides the forest of the state cyber surveillance market
Political opponents, journalists ...
If the Pegasus project was initially intended to target criminals and terrorists, the Indian government is accused of having used it to target its opponents. "We were surprised by the wide range of people targeted. There are health professionals, political opponents, journalists and even human rights defenders," continues Siddarth Varadarajan.
"Mexico and India are the two democracies that use Pegasus the most against their own citizens, against people who have nothing to do with terrorism and who are not threats to national security," laments the editor. chief.
And the latter to estimate: "This affair weakens Indian democracy. Israel and France are investigating ... The Indian government, for its part, prefers to practice the policy of the ostrich by claiming that all this is a plot based on fake news. "
In the ranks of Narendra Modi, we continue to deny these accusations as a whole and to cry out for an "international conspiracy".
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