Anti-government protests by Ethiopia's Oromo people began in November 2015

 

Surveillance software from an Israeli company has been used to spy on Ethiopian dissidents living abroad, says a Canadian research group.

Citizen Lab, based at the University of Toronto, says it has seen evidence that Ethiopian dissidents living in the UK, US and other countries had been sent emails containing malicious software with the intention of infecting their computers with surveillance tools.

Those tools, it says, are created by an Israeli defense contractor called Elbit Systems Ltd.

In its report, Citizen Lab says:

Targets include a US-based Ethiopian diaspora media outlet, the Oromia Media Network (OMN), a PhD student, and a lawyer.

During the course of our investigation, one of the authors of this report was also targeted."


Elbit Systems Ltd has denied the report findings, saying in a statement: “The intelligence and defences agencies that purchase these products are obligated to use them in accordance with the applicable law."

The Ethiopian government has not commented on the report by Citizen Lab which lists a number of Oromo people and groups it says the government targeted.

Oromo people, who make up a third of Ethiopia's population, have long complained of being excluded from the country's political process and economic development.

Widespread anti-government protests by Oromo people began in 2015.


BBC