Pegasus spyware hit at least 35 Jordanian journalists, lawyers and activists; Citizen Lab says two operators were likely Jordanian government agencies.
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A Citizen Lab report of April 5, 2022 documented Pegasus infections on the phones of four Jordanian human-rights defenders, lawyers and journalists between 2019 and 2021, and said two Pegasus operators it tracks, MANSAF and BLACKIRIS, are likely agencies of the Jordanian government. A February 1, 2024 investigation by Access Now and Citizen Lab, with Human Rights Watch and others, found at least 35 people in Jordan, including journalists, lawyers and activists, were infected or targeted with Pegasus between 2019 and September 2023; Citizen Lab counted at least 14 confirmed victims working in media, including Daoud Kuttab. The 2024 reports do not themselves name the operator: HRW said its analysis could not determine which government launched the attacks. NSO Group says it sells only to government clients. HRW wrote to Jordanian authorities on October 10, 2023; no substantive public response from them is reported in the sources.
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