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18 Jul, 7 tweets, 9 min read
BREAKING | Here's a thread of the #PegasusProject stories we've released tonight.

1. Over 300 verified Indian mobile telephone numbers in a leaked database of thousands believed to have been listed by clients of the NSO Group (that sells Pegasus spyware.)
thewire.in/government/pro…
The phone numbers of over 40 Indian journalists appeared on the list, and forensic tests have confirmed that some of them were successfully snooped upon.

These include @svaradarajan, @mkvenu1, @DevirupaM, @rohini_sgh, and Prem Shankar Jha from The Wire.
thewire.in/media/pegasus-…
@svaradarajan @mkvenu1 @DevirupaM @rohini_sgh 3. 9 numbers belonged to eight activists, lawyers and academics arrested for their supposed role in the Elgar Parishad case were selected for surveillance, along with nearly a dozen of their affiliates. | @sukanyashantha

thewire.in/rights/elgar-p…
@svaradarajan @mkvenu1 @DevirupaM @rohini_sgh @sukanyashantha 4. Former DU professor Syed Abdul Rahman Geelani’s phone was infected with Pegasus spyware, along with another nine members and close supporters of the Saibaba Defence Committee. | @sukanyashantha

thewire.in/rights/sar-gee…
@svaradarajan @mkvenu1 @DevirupaM @rohini_sgh @sukanyashantha 5. Two women closest to Jamal Khashoggi were selected for potential surveillance by clients of the Israeli company NSO Group. A successful infection confirmed on one of them. | @DevirupaM

thewire.in/world/pegasus-…
@svaradarajan @mkvenu1 @DevirupaM @rohini_sgh @sukanyashantha 6. A crucial part of the investigative reporting done by the 17 media organisations which are part of the Pegasus Project is the forensic examination of phones believed to be targeted for surveillance.

An FAQ of the methodology here:

thewire.in/tech/faq-pegas…
@svaradarajan @mkvenu1 @DevirupaM @rohini_sgh @sukanyashantha 7. The NSO Group issued multiple responses to the #ProjectPegasus investigation.

Some were direct communications to media, and others were from legal counsel warning that media partners could be sued for defamation.

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…

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More from @thewire_in

The Wire Profile picture
20 Jul
BREAKING | #PegasusProject

In the run up to the toppling of the opposition-run state govt in Karnataka in July 2019, the numbers of deputy CM G. Parameshwara and the personal secretaries of CM H.D. Kumaraswamy and former CM Siddaramaiah were on the list.
thewire.in/politics/karna…
The records indicate that the phone numbers of some of the key political players in Karnataka appear to have been selected around the time after 17 ruling alliance’s legislators abruptly resigned to force a trust vote in the assembly. | @AjoyAshirwad

thewire.in/politics/karna…
@AjoyAshirwad This period also coincides with the selection of a new number Rahul Gandhi began to use after discarding an earlier one he had been operation, and which had been on the list of potential spyware targets since 2018.

thewire.in/politics/karna…
Read 9 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
20 Jul
On the subject of the potential surveillance targeting of the staffer who accused former CJI Gogoi of sexual harassment, @ShashiTharoor says, "It's difficult to understand why an ordinary woman, in this deeply personal case, was being targeted."

@ShashiTharoor "If she was being surveilled, what was found out? If something was found out, who was it told to? Was CJI Gogoi given the fruit of this surveillance? And if after all this surveillance, CJI Gogoi won the case, why was she brought back to the court?"

@ShashiTharoor (Referring to this:)

thewire.in/women/supreme-…
Read 4 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
20 Jul
On asked whether the Congress govt also spied on citizens while it was in power, @ShashiTharoor says that while he accepts that spying might have taken place, the difference is that Congress did it within the bounds of the law.

#PegasusProject

@ShashiTharoor "We have to laws -- Telegraph Act 1885, and the IT Act 2000. The govt can only authorize interceptions according to these laws. An RTI showed people that when the UPA govt was in power, around 9000 tapping authorisations were given, all within laws...:

@ShashiTharoor "...with reasons written down, with notations in files, with the tapping ongoing for 2 months, saying it could not extend beyond 6 months. These are the laws, and operating within these laws is a govt's right."

#PegasusProject

Read 4 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
19 Jul
BREAKING | #ProjectPegasus

A thread of the 2nd tranche of stories on the targets listed for potential surveillance by an official Indian client of the NSO Group selling Pegasus spyware.

1. The numbers of Rahul Gandhi + 9 of his circle were listed.

thewire.in/government/rah…
2. 3 phone numbers belonging to the Supreme Court staffer who accused former CJI Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment + 11 numbers of those associated were targeted for potential surveillance - the largest cluster in the India-leg of the #PegasusProject.

thewire.in/rights/ranjan-…
3. Phone numbers of BJP ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw, Prahlad Singh Patel, Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Sanjay Kachroo, who worked for Smriti Irani in her first years as a Union minister are listed (along with the numbers of several associates.)

thewire.in/politics/bjp-m…
Read 5 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
19 Jul
BREAKING | #ProjectPegasus

Ashok Lavasa, the only member of the 3-man Election Commission to rule that PM Modi had violated the MCC during the 2019 election campaign, was selected as a potential candidate for surveillance just weeks after his dissent.

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…
When we approached the former EC member, he refused to participate in the story.

Without forensic analysis of the phone, it is not possible to determine whether the instrument was successfully infected. | @kabira_tweeting

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…
@kabira_tweeting The records show that Lavasa was selected for potential surveillance weeks after he had dissented not once but in five different matters of alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct by then BJP president Amit Shah and Prime Minister Modi.

thewire.in/tech/pegasus-p…
Read 8 tweets
The Wire Profile picture
19 Jul
BREAKING | #PegasusProject

Phone numbers of Ashwini Vaishnaw, inducted by PM Modi as his minister of communications, electronics and IT, and railways, and Prahlad Singh Patel, minister of state for Jal Shakti, were on the list of potential targets.

thewire.in/politics/bjp-m…
Also listed is the personal secretary to Vasundhara Raje Scindia, when she was the BJP’s CM in Rajasthan, and Sanjay Kachroo, who worked as an OSD for Smriti Irani in her first years as a Union minister in the Modi govt from 2014-2015. | @AjoyAshirwad

thewire.in/politics/bjp-m…
@AjoyAshirwad Other junior politicians linked to the BJP, and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad’s leader, Pravin Togadia, a long-time opponent of Modi from his days as chief minister of Gujarat, are other individuals whose numbers figure in the database.

thewire.in/politics/bjp-m…
Read 11 tweets

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