In a statement today, Saturday, August 7, 2021, Ennahda movement expressed its condemnation of the targeting of the head of the legislative authority by a foreign party, and considering it an attack on the Tunisian state and its sovereignty, according to what was published by “Middle East Eye” regarding the hacking of the phone of the Speaker of the People’s Representatives Assembly, whose functions were suspended.
Call for investigation
In the same context , Ennahda movement called on the official authorities in Tunisia, led by the Presidency of the Republic and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to investigate the matter and take the required official position against what it called the external aggression.
According to the text of the statement, Ennahda also expressed its deep regret at what was attributed to official bodies in a brotherly Arab country adopting these methods that are not permitted by international laws, in addition to the fact that they affect the principle of national sovereignty, and its astonishment at the intention of this body for this action at a time when relations between Arab brothers must be established on mutual respect, non-interference in internal affairs, and avoidance of defamation and personal targeting, according to the text of the statement.
Ghannouchi is on the list of world leaders
It is worth noting that Middle East Eye confirmed that Rashid Ghannouchi was targeted by an Israeli technology company, using NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.
The website said Ghannouchi’s number appeared among a list of 50,000 numbers found on a list obtained by investigative NGO Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, which is believed to consist of phones targeted by clients of the Israeli technology company since 2016.
New information revealed that state leaders, heads of government and sovereign institutions were targeted in some countries, as were Mexican President Lopez Obrador, French President Emmanuel Macron and members of his government, Iraqi President Barham Salih, Lebanese President Michel Aoun and former head of government Saad Hariri.
A survey of 80 journalists
In 2020, a list of more than 50,000 phone numbers from 47 countries believed to belong to individuals identified as “persons of interest” since 2016 by agents of the Israeli cyberweapons company NSO Group was leaked to Amnesty International and “Stories Forbidden Stories is a non-profit media organization based in Paris
Evidence was found that many of the phones with numbers on the list were targets of Pegasus spyware, a virus developed by the NSO Group. The presence of someone on the list does not mean that the program was used against them but that it was a potential target.
