Controversial spyware used to track Canadian-based activist: report
OTTAWA — A new report suggests a controversial commercial spyware was used to infect the cellphone of a prominent Saudi political refugee and activist in Quebec shortly before Saudi authorities arrested the man’s brothers and friends back home.
The explosive allegation follows an investigation by internet watchdog Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, which has been raising alarms about the spyware known as Pegasus.
Pegasus is an Israeli-made surveillance program, one of several marketed to governments as a tool against terrorists and criminals, but which Citizen Lab says have been used by repressive regimes against human-rights workers, journalists and others.
The suspected target is Omar Abdulaziz, who was granted asylum in Canada in 2014, has a massive following on social media, and says Saudi authorities have been waging an intimidation campaign against him for his criticism of the government in Riyadh.