Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday demanded a ban on activities of human rights organisation Amnesty International in India in view of the reports about illegal surveillance using Pegasus spyware. He accused the organisation of being part of a conspiracy to defame India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Pegasus spyware is developed, marketed and licensed to governments around the world by the Israeli cyber intelligence company NSO Group. The company says that it licenses its software only to “vetted governments” and that Pegasus is meant to be targeted at criminals.
But a leaked list, featuring more than 50,000 phone numbers “concentrated in countries known to engage in surveillance of their citizens”, was accessed by Paris-based media nonprofit Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, which shared it with 17 news organisations as part of the Pegasus Project.
The list includes phone numbers used by at least 40 Indian journalists, Opposition…