Pegasus Leak: Financial Times Editor Roula Khalaf Was Selected As A Possible Target By The UAE, Claims Report

Roula Khalaf, who became the first female editor in the newspaper's history last year, was among the potential targets throughout 2018.

Roula Khalaf(PIC/Twitter account)

New Delhi: The leaked database that reportedly revealed potential targets of illegal cyber surveillance using the Pegasus hacking software included editor of the Financial Times among 180 editors, investigative reporters, and other journalists around the world.

These journalists were possible candidates for surveillance by government clients of the surveillance firm NSO Group, according to the publication Guardian.

According to the report, one of the high profile journalists is Roula Khalaf, who became the first female editor in the newspaper's history last year, was among the potential targets throughout 2018. Khalaf name figures in the leaked list of mobile phone numbers selected for possible surveillance by clients of NSO, an Israeli firm that manufactures spyware and sells it to governments.

The leak suggests Khalaf's phone was selected as a possible target by the UAE. At the time, Khalaf was a deputy editor at the FT. A spokesperson for the Financial Times said: "Press freedoms are vital, and any unlawful state interference or surveillance of journalists is unacceptable."

The company’s principal product namely Pegasus, is a spyware that can be used to eavesdrop on conversations.

This spyware has been called the "Most Sophisticated" phone hacking tool. It has been used several times in the past. The surprising thing is that after the phone is hacked with this spyware, the user does not even know. It can hack your device and get information about all the apps including WhatsApp.

Who are other possible journalists?

Other reporters whose numbers appear include local freelancers, such as the Mexican journalist Cecilio Pineda Birto, who was killed by attackers armed with guns one month after his phone was selected. It included numbers of award winning investigative reporters, editors and executives at leading media organisations.

In addition to the UAE, detailed analysis of the data indicates that the governments of Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia all selected journalists as possible surveillance targets, the report said.

Khadija Ismayilova, an award-winning Azerbaijani investigative journalist, was also confirmed by technical analysis to have been hacked with Pegasus in 2019.

Other journalists who were selected as possible candidates for surveillance by NSO's clients work for some of the world's most prestigious media organisations. They include the Wall Street Journal, CNN, the New York Times, Al Jazeera, France 24, Radio Free Europe, Mediapart, El País, Associated Press, Le Monde, Bloomberg, Agence France-Presse, the Economist, Reuters and Voice of America, The Guardian said.