An investigation by Forbidden Stories has found that Anne Rwigara, a 41-year-old genocide survivor and sister of Rwandan opposition figure Diane Rwigara, was targeted by Pegasus, a powerful spyware tool sold by the Israeli company NSO Group to state intelligence services. Anne died unexpectedly in California on December 28, 2023, after briefly complaining of stomach pain.
This should worry every Rwandan, including genocide survivors who may have believed they were safe from Paul Kagame’s repression. The government’s actions deserve far more scrutiny.
The Rwigara family’s tragic history, which includes the mysterious death of their father Assinapol in 2015 and the imprisonment of Diane and her mother Adeline following Diane’s attempt to run for president in 2017, appears to be part of a larger pattern of persecution by state forces. The targeting of Anne Rwigara’s phone with Pegasus spyware in February 2019 suggests that this persecution extended to invasive surveillance measures.
As someone who had previously expressed suspicions about the circumstances surrounding Anne Rwigara’s death, I find these latest revelations deeply troubling. The use of a tool like Pegasus to spy on her shows how closely she was watched. That surveillance may have played a role in her death, which I believe may have been the work of the state.
The fact that Gatera Gashabana, the lawyer who represented the Rwigara family, was also targeted by the spyware shows how far the Kagame regime seems willing to go to intimidate and silence its critics.
While Rwanda has denied using Pegasus, this new evidence points to a regime willing to use invasive surveillance and violence to stay in control. Read the full findings of the Rwanda Classified project, published jointly by 17 media outlets and coordinated by Forbidden Stories.
By Albert Gasake
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