Top Human Rights Watch investigator allegedly hacked with Pegasus spyware

Allegation marks latest example of how NSO clients have used powerful surveillance tool to target campaigners and journalists

The mobile phones of a senior Human Rights Watch staff member are alleged to have been repeatedly hacked by a client of NSO Group at a time when she was investigating the catastrophic August 2020 explosion that killed more than 200 people in Beirut.

The alleged hacking of Lama Fakih, a US-Lebanese citizen and director of crisis and conflict at HRW, marks the latest example of how NSO's powerful surveillance tool, Pegasus, has been used by the company's clients to target campaigners and journalists.