Amnesty's Hebrew statement on NSO and Pegasus gets lost in translation

Reports emerged in some sections of the Indian and Israeli media claiming that the London-based international NGO, in a statement, had denied claims being made by media outlets about the list of 50,000 phone numbers. The statement that was reported and attributed to Amnesty, claims that the organisation never presented the list as "NSO's Pegasus Spyware List".

Hyderabad: Amid a firestorm raging in the country over the Pegasus surveillance, an alleged wrong translation of Amnesty Israel's Hebrew document on Phone numbers of prominent citizens, journalists and activists being spied upon has created confusion with some media houses claiming that Amnesty had made a U-turn on its Pegasus revelations. A statement made by Amnesty International's Israel unit has been reported in some sections of the Israeli and now Indian media, with claims that Amnesty, who initially released the Pegasus list, had washed its hands off the claims being made.

Reports emerged in some sections of the Indian media claiming that the London-based international NGO, in a statement, had denied claims being made by media outlets about the list of 50,000 phone numbers that were being allegedly spied upon. The statement that was reported and attributed to Amnesty, claims that the organisation never presented the list as "NSO's Pegasus Spyware List".

The statement in question was issued by Amnesty International Israel in Hebrew. Meanwhile, a media organisation in India, which is part of the worldwide group of media organisations investigating the Pegasus spyware row has reportedly spoken to Gil Naveh, spokesperson of Amnesty International Israel, who has confirmed to the organisation that the NGO's Hebrew statement was misconstrued and wrongly quoted in English by some sections of the Israeli media.

The list was initially accessed by Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based nonprofit media organisation and Amnesty International, who shared the list with a group of media organisations around the world under the Pegasus project.

The revelation has caused significant upheaval across the world and renewed fears of mass surveillance on citizens by governments. In India, the Modi government has been facing opposition fury over allegations of illegal surveillance. The allegations came after reports revealed phone numbers of major opposition leaders, journalists and social activists being targeted by the Pegasus software.

Reacting to Pegasus row, a spokesperson for NSO on Wednesday said that it will not play along with the vicious and slanderous campaign. In a sharply -worded statement said, "NSO is announcing it will no longer be responding to media inquiries on this matter and it will not play along with the vicious and slanderous campaign".

NSO claimed that the shocking revelations made by media outlets was a planned and well-orchestrated media campaign lead by forbidden stories and pushed by special interest groups.

NSO, which claims it supplies its software only to vetted governments for control of terrorism and crime, further reiterated that "The list is not a list of targets or potential targets of Pegasus".