On May 8, the inexhaustible Rwandan opposition figure Diane Rwigara announced her intention to run in the next presidential election, which will be held on July 15. Rwigara, who is the daughter of Assinapol Rwigara, a former donor to the president’s party who died in 2015 in a car accident denounced by his family as an assassination, has already tried to challenge Paul Kagame, unsuccessfully. This first attempt, seven years ago now, turned into a nightmare: Nude photos of her were leaked online from an unknown source, and the National Electoral Commission invalidated her candidacy, accusing her of falsifying signatures. A few months later, after Kagame’s re-election, she was arrested and charged with, among other things, “inciting insurrection.”
After spending a year in prison, Rwigara was eventually acquitted in December 2018, along with her mother, Adeline, and four other co-defendants. But the pressure from the authorities didn’t stop. Just three months later, Le Monde and Forbidden Stories, who have investigated the dark side of the Kagame regime, found that the phone number of her sister, Anne Rwigara, appeared in a list of numbers designated as possible targets to be infected with the powerful Pegasus spyware.
“Rwanda Classified,” an investigation into the Kagame regime
“Rwanda Classified,” an investigation into Paul Kagame’s regime, involves 50 journalists from 17 media outlets in 11 countries, coordinated by the Forbidden Stories journalism non-profit. Starting with the suspicious death of journalist John Williams Ntwali in Kigali in January 2023, the investigation aims to reveal the repressive machinery implemented by Rwanda, including beyond its borders, far from the image of a model country promoted abroad. The July 15 Rwandan presidential race is likely to lead to the re-election of Paul Kagame for a fourth term.
Our investigation found Anne Rwigara was selected by a Rwandan user of Pegasus, a tool sold exclusively to police and intelligence services by the Israeli company NSO. In 2021, the “Pegasus Project,” an international investigation based on over 50,000 telephone numbers potentially targeted by the software, revealed that the family’s lawyer, Gatera Gashabana, was also selected by Rwanda to be spied on with Pegasus, as was at least one journalist who covered the trial.
People close to Kagame targeted
Without an analysis of the actual phone, it is not possible to know whether the spyware, which is capable of discreetly infiltrating its victims’ devices, was used to eavesdrop on the sister of an opposition figure. Anne Rwigara, who was living in the United States, died in December 2023 under murky circumstances after having complained of violent stomach pains for several days.
However, the investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories and involving 17 media participants, shows once again that Pegasus spyware, which is officially sold to combat organized crime and terrorism, is almost always used for political purposes. Anne Rwigara is just one example among many in the data analyzed by Le Monde and Forbidden Stories. Rwandan authorities did not respond to Forbidden Stories’ requests for comment on this subject.
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