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Carlos Ketohou

Togo

Surveillance

Carlos Ketohou selected for surveillance with the Pegasus spyware in 2017 and 2018. Forbidden Stories was unable to analyze the phone to confirm the infection.

Who is he?

Carlos Komlanvi Ketohou is a Togolese journalist who mainly reports on politics. He used to be the director of the weekly magazine L’Indépendant Express, which he founded in 2007.

From 2016 to 2018, Ketohou was president of the Patronat de la Presse Togolaise, a local association of media owners. Ketohou is vocal defender of the freedom of press in Togo and frequently denounces attacks against it.

From 2005 to 2020, he was the director of a journalism and human rights association called Journalistes pour les Droits de l’Homme (JDHO), which he created in the wake of the bloody rise to power of Faure Gnassingbé, who still rules the country today.

In December 2020, Ketohou was arrested for defaming the government. A few hours earlier he had published an article in L’Indépendant Express in which he accused to ministers of having stolen golden spoons during an official reception. During an interrogation about this article, and more specifically his sources, he was forced to hand out the passwords to his social media accounts and his email accounts. The following months, Togolese authorities suspended before permanently closing L’Indépendant Express.

His work

"Deux femmes ministres interpellées pour vol de cuillères dorées" L'Indépendant Express (2020)

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Response

Togolese authorities did not respond to detailed questions sent by Forbidden Stories and its partners. NSO Group did not answer Forbidden Stories’ questions on specific targets but said it “will continue to investigate all credible claims of misuse and take appropriate action based on the results of these investigations.”