![]() ![]() The Salvadoran government has repeatedly harassed El Faro and Gato Encerrado journalists. Instead, he used his personal Twitter account to issue orders, fire public officials, and harass journalists, who he often arbitrarily categorizes as “ political activists.” Nayib Bukele’s hostile treatment of the press began early in his presidency, when, during the first months of his term, he mostly avoided giving press conferences. Others who received Apple’s Pegasus targeting notifications include Jhonny Wright Sol, Parliamentarian (former member of Arena party, and founder of Nuestro Tiempo party), and Héctor Silva, a San Salvador local councilor. The following day, the Association of Journalists of El Salvador (APES) announced that a total of 23 journalists from different newsrooms received the same information. ![]() On November 23, 2021, El Faro announced that 12 of its journalists received an official notification from Apple, alerting them to the possibility that their devices may have been targeted by Pegasus spyware. We are not ruling out the possibility that more individuals from independent media and civil society in El Salvador may be targets of Pegasus and other spyware. The devices were infected between July 2020 and November 2021, some over 40 times, reflecting one of the most persistent and intensive known uses of Pegasus to surveil journalists in the world. Confirmed infected devices corresponding to NGOs include: one from Cristosal, two from Fundación Democracia, Transparencia y Justicia (DTJ), and one from an NGO that wishes to remain anonymous. Confirmed infected devices corresponding to other media outlets include: one device from staff of La Prensa Gráfica, one from Revista Digital Disruptiva, one from El Diario de Hoy, one from El Diario El Mundo, and two independent journalists. El Faro and Gato Encerrado are independent investigative outlets that have often published reporting that is critical of the Salvadoran government’s actions. Twenty three of those devices belong to professionals affiliated with the regional media group El Faro, and four to the national media group, Gato Encerrado. To date, 37 devices belonging to 35 individuals have been confirmed to be infected. All the infections were confirmed through a forensic analysis by The Citizen Lab, and later independently confirmed by Amnesty International. SocialTIC, a civil society organization working in digital technology, also referred cases to Front Line Defenders for their investigation. In September 2021, a group of independent journalists got in touch with Access Now’s Digital Security Helpline after testing their devices using Amnesty International’s Mobile Verification Toolkit to detect Pegasus spyware. Infecting Journalists’ and Activists' Phones: What Happened These attacks are particularly alarming, as several of the infections occurred after the Pegasus Project revelations became public in July of 2021, indicating that those behind the spyware attacks were aware of, but ignored, the widespread denouncement of Pegasus use, including by international human rights NGOs and UN experts and officials. Although, to date, it has not been established who the perpetrator of this surveillance is, NSO Group has repeatedly claimed it only sells Pegasus technology to governments. ![]() We, the undersigned organizations, condemn the use of NSO Group’s Pegasus technology in El Salvador for the surveillance of journalists and civil society, as initially flagged by El Faro and Gato Encerrado, and confirmed through a joint investigation by Access Now, Front Line Defenders, The Citizen Lab, Amnesty International, Fundación Acceso, and SocialTIC. ![]()
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