Welcome to Cyprus, where officials discovered a new threat to national security: journalists reporting facts.
As reported in OCCRP, the Mediterranean nation's Interior Ministry drafted legislation that would let authorities raid reporters' homes, offices, and devices. "The draft also opens the door to the use of spyware and extends potential surveillance to colleagues, friends, and other contacts," reports OCCRP.
The bill grants surveillance powers to everyone from secret service chiefs to "any other authorized official" — a phrase so vague it could include the guy who waters the office plants.
Want to protect your sources? Sorry. Under this proposal, authorities can force journalists to reveal them faster than Fyre Festival changes venues.
The Cyprus Bar Association called the bill unconstitutional. The country has already plummeted 10 spots on the Press Freedom Index. It's now at spot 65 out of 180. (To be fair, the U.S. has dropped to 55 in recent months, thanks to you-know-who).
Nothing protects democracy quite like treating journalists like enemy combatants. Just ask literally any dictator ever.
Speaking of Cyprus, remember when Trump's first Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross (personal net worth: $2.5 billion) ran the Bank of Cyprus while it was basically a laundromat for Russian oligarch cash? Good times!
