Schlagwort: Amnesty International

A new Amnesty International investigation has established that Predator spyware was used in 2024 to target Teixeira Cândido, a prominent Angolan journalist, press freedom activist, jurist and former Secretary General of the Syndicate of Angolan Journalists (SJA). 

Predator is a highly invasive mobile phone spyware, developed and sold by Intellexa – a mercenary spyware company – for use by governments in surveillance operations. This is the first forensic confirmation of its use in Angola. 

“I feel naked knowing that I was the target of this invasion of my privacy. I don’t know what they have in their possession about my life. […] Now I only do and say what is essential. I don’t trust my devices. I exchange correspondence, but I don’t deal with intimate matters on my devices. I feel very limited,” said Teixeira Cândido. 

Teixeira Cândido’s case emerged from a broader investigation into surveillance threats in Angola throughout 2025, originally conducted by Friends of Angola and Front Line Defenders.   

The 2024 spyware attack in Angola is one of the most recently confirmed Predator cases, along with the 2025 attack on a human rights lawyer in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, providing further evidence that Intellexa and its spyware system remained operational until 2025 and in jurisdictions unknown until now. While these investigations establish conclusively that the Predator spyware was used, Amnesty International cannot attribute the attacks to specific government customers.

“I feel naked knowing that I was the target of this invasion of my privacy. I don’t know what they have in their possession about my life. […] Now I only do and say what is essential. I don’t trust my devices. I exchange correspondence, but I don’t deal with intimate matters on my devices. I feel very limited,

Teixeira Cândido

Intellexa’s Predator spyware continues contributing to unlawful surveillance despite repeated public exposure, ongoing criminal investigations, and sanctions directed at the company and its senior executives.  

In addition to being targeted with spyware, Teixeira Cândido has faced multiple attacks and intimidation since 2022, including unexplained break-ins at his office.  

From April to June 2024, during the final months as Secretary General of the SJA, Teixeira Cândido received a series of WhatsApp messages on his iPhone from an unknown Angolan number. The sender used a common Angolan name for their WhatsApp profile and pretended to be part of a group of students interested in the country’s social and economic affairs. After an initial period of building rapport, the attacker sent the first malicious Predator link on 3 May at 16:18 pm local time, designed to infect the journalist’s phone. This pattern continued for weeks with the attacker sending additional malicious links, each pretending to direct to news articles and seemingly genuine websites. Further messages encouraged him to open the links. 

On 4 May 2024, Teixeira Cândido appears to have opened one malicious link, which would have resulted in the successful infection of his phone with the Predator spyware. Once the spyware was installed, the attacker could gain unrestricted access to Teixeira Cândido’s iPhone.   

Amnesty International’s Security Lab analyzed Teixeira Cândido’s phone and identified forensic traces of network communications made by the spyware on 4 May, confirming that Predator was installed and running on the journalist’s phone during that day. These forensic traces, in addition to known Predator infection domains used in the infection links, allow for the attribution of this attack to Intellexa’s Predator. 

The infection on Teixeira Cândido’s phone appears to have been removed when the phone was restarted on the evening of 4 May. Between 4 May and 16 June 2024, the attacker sent 11 further Predator infection links, all of which appear to have failed, possibly because they were not opened. 

Detailed information about the attack can be found in the technical briefing Journalism under attack: Predator spyware in Angola. 

Predator spyware has been used to actively target individuals in Angola since at least early 2023. Amnesty researchers believe the targeting of Teixeira Cândido is likely part of a broader spyware campaign in the country. 

“Forensic analysis conducted by Amnesty International’s Security Lab confirmed with high confidence that the infection links are tied to Intellexa’s Predator spyware and resulted in at least one successful infection of Teixeira Cândido’s phone, 

Carolina Rocha da Silva, Operations Manager at Amnesty International’s Security Lab.     

Teixeira Cândido’s spyware attack is a grave violation of his rights to privacy and freedom of expression, which in themselves impact a host of other rights such as freedom of association and peaceful assembly, as reported by Amnesty International. Such attacks have a chilling effect on journalists’ ability to do their work. 

In a previous investigation, Amnesty International revealed that, once installed, Predator spyware can gain total access to data stored on or transmitted from a target’s device including encrypted messaging apps, audio recordings, emails, device locations, screenshots, photos, stored passwords, contacts and call logs. It can also activate the microphone. The spyware is designed to leave no traces on the target’s device, which renders renders any independent audit of potential abuses difficult. This type of highly invasive spyware is fundamentally incompatible with human rights.  

@Teixeira Cândido

The attack occurs amid a tightening authoritarian environment in Angola under President João Lourenço’s administration, marked by the repression of peaceful protests and the routine use of excessive or unnecessary force, arbitrary arrests and detentions, as well as abuses in detention, and enforced disappearances.  

The case also underscores how the commercial sale and use of surveillance technologies without adequate safeguards continues to enable human rights abuses globally.  

Amnesty International sent a letter on 27 January 2026 to Intellexa outlining the findings of the investigation and seeking information about the company’s human rights due diligence processes. No response had been received by the time of publication. 

Background 

In December 2025, Amnesty International, together with Inside Story, Haaretz and WAV Research Collective, published the Intellexa Leaks, which revealed new evidence on Intellexa’s internal operations and documented further Predator-linked abuses.  

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Responding to the conviction and 20-year sentence of Ruben Vardanyan, the last of 16 ethnic Armenians put on trial by Azerbaijan in connection with their roles in Azerbaijan’s break-away region of Nagorno-Karabakh (Karabakh) prior to its takeover by Azerbaijani forces in 2023, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:

“The conviction of the 16 defendants, culminating in this sentence against Ruben Vardanyan, is nothing short of a travesty. The fact that Ruben Vardanyan and the others, several civilians like himself, were tried before a military court in itself raises serious concerns and is incompatible with fair trial guarantees. While victims of the decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in both Armenia and Azerbaijan deserve truth, justice, reparations and assurances of non-repetition, these convictions constitute an affront to all victims of crimes under international law.”

While victims of the decades-long conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh in both Armenia and Azerbaijan deserve truth, justice, reparations and assurances of non-repetition, these convictions constitute an affront to all victims of crimes under international law

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

“Accused of a plethora of extremely serious crimes, Ruben Vardanyan and other defendants were tried in an effectively closed hearing, based on ‘evidence’ in a language they could not understand and that was not adequately translated. Even the charges – over 40 against Vardanyan alone – including “terrorism” and “crimes against humanity” were not fully publicly disclosed during proceedings. Amnesty International requested information from the Azerbaijani authorities about the trial and the evidence but received no response.

“Azerbaijan must comply with its obligations under international human rights law and ensure that all those accused of crimes are tried in full compliance with international law and fair trial standards.”

Background

A prominent businessman, Ruben Vardanyan moved from Russia to Nagorno-Karabakh in 2022 and was detained by the Azerbaijani authorities on 27 September 2023 amid the mass exodus of ethnic Armenians following Azerbaijan’s military takeover of the region. He faced multiple charges, including “financing terrorism,” “creating illegal armed group” and “violent seizure of power.”

Amnesty International expressed concern regarding his fair trial rights, citing allegations of ill-treatment, coerced signature of falsified case materials and denial of adequate time to prepare his defence, and called for an investigation into these reported violations.

On 5 February, the same court sentenced 15 other defendants, including former leaders of the self-proclaimed “Republic of Artsakh.” Five, including the former de facto President Arayik Harutyunyan, received life sentences. The defendants, both civilian and military, were accused of 2,548 crimes overall, including “genocide,” “slavery,” “enforced disappearance” and “financing terrorism.”

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Following Bangladesh’s national elections last week, the new government, led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman’s Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), was sworn into power today. The elections – the first since nationwide student-led protests deposed the government of former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024 – are widely seen as a pivotal moment for human rights in Bangladesh. Since the country was founded in 1971, successive administrations have failed to respect the human rights obligations laid down in its constitution, with violations including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions, and repression of freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. commonplace.

Here, four young Bangladeshis, united in their hope that the new government will make a break with the past, share their expectations on what it must deliver.

Omar Faruk

Umma Sadia Prapty

Tahsin Ahmed Tanmoy

Md. Nahid Hasan Sharif

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Fifteen years after Libyans revolted against the repressive rule of Muammar al-Gaddafi, systemic impunity fuels crimes under international law and serious human rights violations by militias and armed groups while justice and reparations for survivors and relatives of victims remain elusive, Amnesty International said today.

Instead of being brought to justice in fair proceedings, those suspected of involvement in murder, torture, enforced disappearances and other crimes under international law and human rights violations have been killed or remain at large. They include fugitives from the International Criminal Court (ICC), despite the welcome step taken by the Tripoli-based Government of National Unity (GNU) in May 2025 to accept the jurisdiction of the  Court with respect to alleged crimes committed in Libya from 2011 to 2027.

“For 15 years, successive Libyan authorities have failed to dismantle the networks of abuse that fuel ongoing violations and have instead provided funding and legitimacy to notorious militias and integrated their members into state institutions without proper vetting. By allowing those suspected of responsibility for crimes under international law to evade accountability the authorities have betrayed survivors and reinforced a cycle of violence and lawlessness that shows no sign of ending,” said Mahmoud Shalaby, Egypt and Libya Researcher at Amnesty International.

“The Government of National Unity’s acceptance of the ICC’s jurisdiction rings hollow as long as it is not matched by concrete action. The killing of Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi earlier this month underscores the inability and unwillingness of the Libyan justice system to ensure accountability and irreversibly robs survivors and relatives of victims of their right to truth and justice. Libyan authorities must meaningfully cooperate with the ICC, surrender individuals wanted for crimes under international law, and ensure that all those suspected of criminal responsibility are brought to justice in fair trials.”

Since the referral of the situation in Libya to the ICC by the UN Security Council in February 2011, only one suspect out of 14 was handed to the Court. On 1 December 2025, the German authorities surrendered Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri (also known as “Al-Buti”), senior and long-term member of the notorious Tripoli-based militia Deterrence Apparatus for Combating Terrorism and Organized Crime (DACTO), also known as al-Radaa, to the ICC. The ICC issued a warrant for his arrest for crimes against humanity and war crimes, in connection with incidents at Mitiga Prison in Tripoli under the control of DACTO.

The GNU, as well as the Libyan Arab Armed Forces (LAAF), the de facto authorities in control of eastern and southern Libya, persist in their refusal to arrest and/or surrender Libyan nationals against whom arrest warrants have been issued by the ICC on charges of committing crimes against humanity and/or war crimes. Eight Libyan nationals under ICC arrest warrants remain at large.

Amnesty International wrote to the Libyan Public Prosecutor on 2 February 2026 to inquire about the whereabouts and legal proceedings against two individuals who had been arrested in Libya, but whose current status remains unclear amid concerns that they are shielded from accountability. They are Osama AlMasri Njeem, the former head of the Department of Operations and Judicial Security (DOJS) and long-term senior member of DACTO, and Abdelbari Ayyad Ramadan al-Shaqaqi, a senior member of al-Kaniat armed group. No response had been received at the time of writing.

Killings instead of justice

Libya has seen a pattern of killings of individuals suspected of involvement in human rights violations, denying victims the truth and justice they deserve.

Most recently, on 3 February, Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi was murdered in unknown circumstances by unidentified attackers. In 2011, the ICC Prosecutor charged him with committing crimes against humanity, including murder and persecution. In 2017, a Libyan court sentenced al-Gaddafi to death in absentia in a trial that did not meet international standards. In July 2017, an armed group in the western city of Zintan, which had held him since 2011, had announced his release in an amnesty.

Libyan authorities must meaningfully cooperate with the ICC, surrender individuals wanted for crimes under international law, and ensure that all those suspected of criminal responsibility are brought to justice in fair trials.

Mahmoud Shalaby, Amnesty International

Another ICC suspect who was murdered in unknown circumstances is Mahmoud al-Werfalli, former Field Commander of the Special Forces Brigade (Al-Saiqa) affiliated to the LAAF. In 2017, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against him for war crimes. In 2021, Mahmoud al-Werfalli was shot dead in Benghazi, the second biggest city in Libya and under the de facto authority of LAAF.

Another notorious militia commander, Abdel Ghani al-Kikli, known as “Gheniwa” was killed in unclear circumstances in Tripoli on 12 May 2025, triggering armed clashes between rival militias in Tripoli. Amnesty International documented crimes under international law and serious human rights violations against Libyans, as well as refugees, asylum seekers and migrants, committed by militias under his command including the Central Security Force/ Abu Salim militia and the Stability Support Authority (SSA). Documented crimes include arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, sexual violence and unlawful killings. Amnesty International also documented how SSA militia members carried out interceptions of refugees and migrants at sea that have been marred by reports of violence, leading to loss of life at sea. 

Failure to surrender ICC suspects

Libya’s justice system remains unwilling and unable to effectively investigate crimes committed by powerful militias and armed groups. Proceedings in Libya are also marred by severe violations of fair trial rights including the right to adequate defence, to not self-incriminate and to be protected from torture, amid continuing trials of civilians by military courts. The Public Prosecutor himself publicly described in April 2025 the bodies responsible for pursuing cases, gathering and preserving evidence as “almost ineffective” due to the involvement of influential parties affiliated with security bodies or armed groups.

Despite this, the Libyan authorities refuse to surrender those under ICC arrest warrants to the Court.  In November 2025, the Public Prosecutor ordered the detention of Osama AlMasri Njeem in connection with incidents of torture and other cruel and degrading treatment of detainees at Mitiga Prison, and a death in custody. No further information is publicly available on his place of detention or status of legal proceedings, amid serious concerns about whether he would face justice, given the continued power wielded in Tripoli by DACTO militia, of which he was a long-term senior member. Italian authorities had arrested him in January 2025 pursuant to the ICC warrant of arrest, but flew him back to Libya the same month.

On 13 July 2025, the GNU’s ministry of justice published a statement on its Facebook page, before quickly removing it, announcing its refusal to surrender Osama AlMasri Njeem to the ICC. The statement added that “Libya has neither signed nor ratified the Rome Statute. Therefore, no Libyan citizen will be surrendered outside the jurisdiction of Libyan territory, and the national judiciary is fully competent to consider such cases.”

In October 2024, the ICC announced arrest warrants against six leaders, senior members, and affiliates of al-Kaniat, an armed group that committed crimes under international law during its reign of terror over the Libyan city of Tarhouna, including mass unlawful killings, torture, enforced disappearances and forced displacement. The six remain at large and/or have yet to be surrendered to the Court.

One of the six is Abdelbari Ayyad Ramadan al-Shaqaqi who has been since 2024 in custody of DACTO. In August 2025, the Office of the Public Prosecution announced that it had ordered the pretrial detention of a member of al-Kaniat, without disclosing his name but providing credentials matching those of Abdelbari Ayyad Ramadan al-Shaqaqi. The prosecution did not clarify the charges against him and only stated that he was being investigated for a suspected abduction and killing before 2020. No information has been made public on whether he was referred to trial.

Failure to investigate or prosecute militia leaders

Successive Libyan governments continued to integrate members of militias and armed groups into state institutions without vetting them to exclude those suspected of crimes under international law and other serious human rights violations. Even in rare cases when the government disestablished some militias or removed their leaders, they failed to initiate criminal investigations against them or vet their members.

Most recently, in May 2025 the GNU dissolved the DOJS, which was headed by Osama AlMasri Njeem, and integrated its members into the Ministry of the Interior without conducting individual vetting to exclude and hold accountable those reasonably suspected of involvement in crimes under international.

In the same month, the government dismissed Lotfi al-Harari, former head of the Internal Security Agency (ISA) in Tripoli. Amnesty International had documented how ISA members subjected dozens of men and women to arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment and  enforced disappearances. No criminal investigations into claims that crimes under international law were committed at ISA under his command have taken place.

Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, a military commander or a person effectively acting as a military commander may be responsible for the crimes committed by subordinates under his or her effective command and control, if the commander is aware of the crimes, or should have been aware of them, and fails to prevent or punish them.

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Commemorating the second anniversary of the death in custody of Russian opposition politician and prisoner of conscience Aleksei Navalny, Amnesty International’s Secretary General Agnès Callamard said:

“Two years have passed since Aleksei Navalny, a prisoner of conscience and one of the most fearless voices against corruption and state repression in Russia, died in a remote penal colony within the Arctic Circle. While the Russian authorities continue to evade accountability, the truth has not been buried. On the contrary, the latest revelations indicating that Navalny was killed by the highly toxic substance epibatidine show that attempts to conceal the circumstances of his death have failed.”

“These findings were made possible not only by international cooperation, but also by the courage, determination and commitment of those inside Russia who ensured that critical evidence was preserved and made available for forensic examination. Against extraordinary risks, Aleksei Navalny’s friends and colleagues secured what was necessary to unveil the truth when Putin tried to bury it.

“That same determination explains why the Russian authorities continue their crackdown. They are attempting to destroy the movement Aleksei Navalny created by criminalizing his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), prosecuting his supporters and punishing even the slightest expressions of remembrance and solidarity.

While the Russian authorities continue to evade accountability, the truth has not been buried. On the contrary, the latest revelations indicating that Navalny was killed by the highly toxic substance epibatidine show that attempts to conceal the circumstances of his death have failed

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General

“In the past year, Aleksei Navalny’s lawyers – Aleksei Liptser, Vadim Kobzev and Igor Sergunin – as well as four associates, the media professionals Antonina Favorskaya, Sergei Karelin, Konstantin Gabov and Artyom Kriger, have all been handed long prison sentences solely for peacefully exercising their human rights. They must be immediately and unconditionally released, and their unjust convictions quashed.

“These prosecutions form part of a far broader wave of repression. Russian authorities have opened more than 100 criminal cases over alleged donations to FBK, which has been arbitrarily designated as an ‘extremist’ and more recently a ‘terrorist’ organization. This widespread and systematic persecution of Navalny’s sympathizers is growing in scale and ferocity every year. Under the new ‘terrorist’ designation, supporters could face even harsher sanctions, including up to life imprisonment.

“The Russian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release all those who have been locked up solely for their association with Aleksei Navalny or his work and quash their unjust convictions. Russia must stop abusing ‘extremism’ and ‘terrorism’ legislation to pursue peaceful critics of the authorities. We also call on states and international organizations to publicly raise individual cases, support international monitoring and accountability efforts, and provide international protection, including asylum, for Navalny’s supporters who face the risk of politically motivated criminal prosecution in Russia.”

Background

On 14 February 2026, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK made a joint announcement based on a multi-intelligence inquiry stating that Aleksei Navalny had been killed with epibatidine – a highly toxic substance reportedly detected in biological samples taken prior to burial – and that only “[t]he Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy” it. The UK said it would refer the matter to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, noting that the production and use of such toxins are prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, both binding on Russia.

In December 2025, the Moscow City Court upheld 5.5-year prison sentences against Antonina Favorskaya and Artyom Kriger, reporters for the SotaVision media project who covered Aleksei Navalny and the FBK, as well as on Sergei Karelin and Konstantin Gabov, freelancers for the Navalny Live YouTube channel. In September 2025, a court also upheld the sentences handed down in January 2025 to Aleksei Navalny’s lawyers: Vadim Kobzev (5.5 years), Aleksei Liptser (five years), and Igor Sergunin (3.5 years).

In 2025 only, Russian courts considered at least 79 criminal cases related to donations to FBK. This represents a sharp increase compared to previous years, with two cases opened in 2022, four in 2023, and 27 in 2024. At least 96 individuals were prosecuted in 2025, often for donations ranging from 100 to 14,000 rubles (US$1.30-US$180). In eight cases, courts imposed prison sentences ranging from three months to five years, with one case resulting in a 12-year prison term. The actual number of cases is likely to be higher, as no official statistics are published and court data remains incomplete.

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