Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 3rd Feb. UN human rights experts on Thursday called the Spanish Government to investigate an alleged spying operation on the leaders and activists of Catalonia region, after a failed bid for independence six years ago.
The experts said in a statement “Spanish authorities must conduct a full, fair, and effective investigation into these allegations, publish the findings and stop any unlawful interference into the fundamental rights of the Catalan minority activists in Spain,”.
The October 2017 independence referendum, Spain arrested leaders of the Catalonian independence movement on charges of sedition.
The alleged spying occurred between that year and 2020, with most incidents taking place soon after the vote, the rights experts said.
They noted the mobile phones of 65 Catalan politicians and activists were hacked using Pegasus and Candiru spyware.
According to experts, victims included members of the European Parliament, legislators, jurists, and civil society representatives.
According to experts, Pegasus spyware was created by the NSO Group, an Israeli cyber-intelligence firm that develops technology to help governments prevent and detect threats.
They said that Spain’s national intelligence agency became one of the company’s customers.
The exprets expressed concerns by the extent and sophistication of the alleged spying programme, noted that those targeted had not engaged in violent activities.
They warned that widespread use of such spyware may lead to increased self-censorship, which has a chilling effect on human rights, including those of minorities.
The reports indicated that many victims were targeted through SMS-based attacks, where they received text messages containing malicious links designed to trick them.
UN experts said “The sophistication and personalisation of the messages varied across attempts, but reflect a detailed understanding of the target’s habits, interests, activities, and concerns.”
“In many cases, either the timing or the contents of the text were highly customised to the targets and indicated the likely use of other forms of surveillance on them,” they added.
Victims were targeted using highly personalised official notifications from Spanish government entities, including tax and social security authorities.
They said “For example, a message sent to one victim included a portion of his actual official tax identification number, suggesting that the attackers had access to this information”.
Rights experts wrote to the Spanish Government in October 2022.
The authorities reported that investigations were ongoing and said they could not pronounce on cases that were pending judicial investigation.
Experts said “We are looking forward to the outcomes of the ongoing judicial investigation,”.
“We further wish to reiterate our call for a global moratorium on the sale and transfer of surveillance technology, until robust regulations are in place that guarantee its use in compliance with international human rights standards,” they added.
The experts urged Spain to join.
Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on minority issues; Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and Irene Kahn, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression issued a joint statement.
