India targeted high-profile journalists with Pegasus spyware: Amnesty

Investigation shows journalists in India face ‘threat of unlawful surveillance’ along with other ‘tools of repression’.

India’s government has used the highly invasive Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists, according to a new investigation by Amnesty International and The Washington Post.

The findings, published on Thursday, noted India’s repeated use of Pegasus against journalists, including one who was previously a victim of an attack using the same spyware.

Created by Israeli firm NSO Group, Pegasus can be used to access a phone’s messages and emails, peruse photos, eavesdrop on calls, track locations and even film the owner with the camera.

Watchdogs have documented widespread use of the spyware – which NSO says is only sold to governments or security agencies – against journalists and activists in dozens of countries, including India.

Amnesty said journalists Siddharth Varadarajan, founding editor of digital media outlet The Wire, and Anand Mangnale, South Asia editor at The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), had been targeted with the spyware on their iPhones, with the latest identified case in October 2023.