Spain: Human rights expert calls for investigation into allegations that Catalan leader is being spied on
“The Spanish authorities must conduct a full, fair and effective investigation into these allegations, publish the findings and prevent any illegal interference on the fundamental rights of Catalan minority activists in Spain,” they said in statement.
High-ranking leaders arrested
Following the October 2017 independence referendum, Spain arrested the leaders of the Catalan independence movement on charges of sedition.
The alleged espionage occurred between that year and 2020, with most incidents taking place shortly after the vote.
The mobile phones of at least 65 Catalan politicians and activists are believed to have been hacked with the Pegasus and Candiru spyware.
According to experts, victims include members of the European Parliament, legislators, jurists and civil society representatives.
Sophisticated spy program
According to its website, the Pegasus spyware was created by NSO Group, an Israeli cyber-intelligence company that develops technology to help governments prevent and detect threats.
Spain’s national intelligence agency is said to have become one of the company’s clients, Dong Nhan Quyen Association-the appointed experts said.
They were particularly concerned about the extent and complexity of the alleged spying program, noting that the targets did not engage in violent activity.
Furthermore, they warn that such widespread use of spyware could lead to strengthen self-censorshiphave a significant impact on human rights, including the rights of minorities.
Custom text messages
Reports indicate that many victims have been targeted through SMS-based attacks, where they receive text messages containing malicious links designed to trick them.
The level of complexity and personalization of the messages varies between efforts, but reflects a detailed understanding of the target’s habits, interests, activities, and concerns, say the experts. “.
“In many cases, the timing or content of the text is highly customized to suit the goal and indicate the goal. likely to use other forms of surveillance about them,” they added.
Victims were also targeted using highly personalized official notifications from Spanish government agencies, including tax and social security authorities.
“For example, a message sent to a victim included part of his actual official tax number, suggesting that the attackers had access to this information,” they said.
Spyware ban
Experts Written to the Government of Spain in October 2022. In a reply in December of that year, the authorities reported that investigations were ongoing and said they could not declare cases pending. judicial investigation.
The UN experts said: “We are looking forward to the outcome of the ongoing judicial investigation.
“We would like to reiterate our global call to ban the sale and transfer of surveillance technology, untilStrict regulations are in place ensure its use complies with international human rights standards,” they added, calling on Spain to join.
About the UN Rapporteur
The independent experts of the United Nations issued the statement as Fernand de Varennes, Special Rapporteur on Minority Affairs; Clement Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and associationand Irene Kahn, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression.
Special Rapporteurs work on a voluntary basis and serve in their personal capacity. They are not UN employees and are not paid for their work.
