Togo: the Gnassingbe regime clamps down on opposition

a Togolese human rights activist sheds new light on how West Africa’s oldest autocracy uses modern surveillance techniques to further strengthen its control. A 2018 investigation by Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity research group based at the University of Toronto, uncovered the use of a spyware program known as Pegasus to attack the electronic devices of Togolese dissidents. Sold by the NSO Group, an Israeli company, to aid in the fight against terrorism and crime, it also enables authoritarian, poor human right record regimes to abuse its powers and oppress activists, journalists and other civil society leaders.

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