{
  "title": "Ladder: surveillance and subpoenas, in Africa",
  "canonical_url": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/surveillance_and_subpoenas?continent=africa",
  "filters": {
    "continent": "africa"
  },
  "counts_caveat": "The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.",
  "tactic": {
    "slug": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
    "name": "Surveillance and subpoenas",
    "definition": "A government collects journalists' communications or records, often to learn who their sources are. Methods include subpoenas (court orders to hand over records or to testify), search warrants, seizure of phones and notes, demands to telephone and internet companies, and spyware placed on reporters' devices.",
    "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/tactics/surveillance_and_subpoenas"
  },
  "focal_case": "US",
  "count": 1,
  "stages": [
    {
      "stage": "punish",
      "name": "Punish",
      "definition": "Legal or physical action against individual journalists or sources: subpoenas and record seizures, prosecutions, arrests, detention, expulsions, visa denials, assault where a government actor is involved.",
      "rungs": [
        {
          "slug": "2020-morocco-omar-radi-pegasus-and-detention",
          "title": "Morocco: investigative journalist Omar Radi's phone is infected with Pegasus spyware and he is later detained",
          "occurred_on": "2020-07-05",
          "occurred_on_precision": "day",
          "stage": "punish",
          "focal_case": false,
          "country": "MA",
          "country_name": "Morocco",
          "continent": "africa",
          "rsf": null,
          "leader_slug": "saadeddine-othmani",
          "leader_name": "Saadeddine Othmani",
          "what_was_done": "Amnesty International confirmed Moroccan investigative journalist Omar Radi's phone had been infected with Pegasus spyware, and Moroccan police separately detained him overnight days later after private material from his devices circulated in pro-government media.",
          "outcome": "reversed",
          "outcome_on": "2024-07-01",
          "outcome_note": "Radi was released in July 2024 as part of a mass royal pardon, though he said his legal status left him unable to work as an accredited journalist afterward.",
          "ladder_note": "A journalist's private communications were covertly extracted despite his taking precautions against hacking, then published by pro-government media and used against him in court.",
          "sources_count": 5,
          "tactic_primary": "surveillance_and_subpoenas",
          "tactics": [
            "surveillance_and_subpoenas"
          ],
          "url": "https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-morocco-omar-radi-pegasus-and-detention"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "downloads": {
    "csv": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/surveillance_and_subpoenas?continent=africa&format=csv",
    "json": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/surveillance_and_subpoenas.json?continent=africa",
    "md": "https://thewaronnews.com/ladders/surveillance_and_subpoenas.md?continent=africa"
  },
  "license": {
    "name": "CC BY 4.0",
    "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
  }
}