Spyware Surveillance of Palestinian Human Rights Defenders
08-11-2021 | Addameer
▻https://www.addameer.org/news/4564
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After the Israeli designation of six of the leading Palestinian civil society organizations; Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, Al-Haq Law in the Service of Man (Al-Haq), Bisan Center for Research and Development, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees, as “terror organizations” in a latest bid to delegitimize their image and isolate them from their partners and solidarity networks, Front Line Defenders (FLD) reveals today that there has been a systematic underground campaign of spyware surveillance aimed at infiltrating Palestinian human rights defenders and lawyers’ devices. The penetrating and monitoring of the devices of human rights defenders violates not only the privacy rights of human rights defenders and lawyers but also the countless victims that have been in any sort of communication with them. The six organizations strongly condemn the arbitrary, oppressive, and distressing revelations of spyware surveillance mass operation and call for a firm response, including concrete actions from the international community.\
Pegasus Spyware Surveillance of Palestinian Human Rights Defenders
On 16 October 2021, Al-Haq contacted FLD on suspicion of the spyware infection of the iPhone device of one of its staff members. FLD technical investigation found that the device had been infected in July 2020 with Pegasus spyware marketed by the Israeli NSO Group. Further forensic investigation-peer-reviewed by Citizen Lab and Amnesty International’s Security Lab - of 75 iPhone devices belonging to Palestinian human rights defenders and employees of civil society organizations revealed that at least five additional devices were also tapped into. Amongst them, Ghassan Halaika, Jerusalem-based field researcher at Al-Haq; Ubai Al-Aboudi, Executive Director at Bisan Center for Research and Development; and Salah Hammouri, lawyer and human rights defender.
“When Pegasus is installed on a person’s phone, an attacker has complete access to a phone’s messages, emails, media, microphone, camera, passwords, voice calls on messaging apps, location data, calls, and contacts. The spyware also has the potential to activate the phone camera and microphone and spy on an individual’s calls and activities.” (FLD, 8 November 2021).
Joint investigation of FLD, Citizen Lab, and Amnesty International’s Security Lab confirmed with high confidence that the infection emanated from Pegasus Spyware pertaining to the Israel-based Pegasus spyware, which has been used as a mass surveillance tool to target and facilitate systematic repression of human rights activists, lawyers, journalists, and political figures, as disclosed by the global Pegasus Project that analyzed more than 50,000 phone numbers in July 2021. After the scathing revelations made by the Pegasus Project, the NSO Group ironically alleged that the Pegasus spyware’s use was limited to government intelligence and law enforcement agencies for counter-terrorism and crime-fighting purposes. (...)