# Ladder: surveillance and subpoenas, in Africa

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.

The number of entries reflects the depth of this record, not the severity of a country's conduct.

Narrow with ?stage= (restrict, pressure, punish, silence, eliminate), ?continent=, ?from= and ?to= (year or date).

## Punish

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.

| Date | Country | Head of government | What was done | Outcome | Sources |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 5 July 2020 | [Morocco](https://thewaronnews.com/countries/ma) (RSF rank: not recorded) | [Saadeddine Othmani](https://thewaronnews.com/leaders/saadeddine-othmani) | 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. 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. [Full entry](https://thewaronnews.com/incidents/2020-morocco-omar-radi-pegasus-and-detention) | Reversed (1 July 2024) | 5 |

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