Thread by @RajivLather

Dubai’s Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum had phones of his ex-wife & lawyers hacked during custody battle over their children, England’s High Court ruled.

Al Maktoum used the sophisticated #Pegasus software, developed by Israeli firm NSO.

(Misuse of #Pegasus in #India too)

The #Pegasus software has been developed by Israeli firm NSO for countries to counter national security risks.

Here phones of Princess Haya bint Al Hussein, half-sister of Jordan’s King Abdullah II & some of those closely connected to her were spied upon.

@Israel @UN_HRC @hrw

19 months earlier a court in England had concluded that Al Maktoum had abducted two of his daughters, mistreated them, and held them against their will.

In a new ruling Judge Andrew McFarlane said “The findings represent a total abuse of trust, and indeed an abuse of power”.

The activity came to light in August last year after Shackleton was tipped off by Cherie Blair, the wife of former British PM Tony Blair, that she & Haya had been hacked, the court was told.

Incidentally Blair, a prominent lawyer, worked as an external adviser for NSO. #Pegasus

When I, Rajiv, visited the website of this group there was this loud claim - "First Annual Report Highlights Extensive Safeguards Against Misuse of Technology, Outlines Internal Governance & Compliance Processes" - June 30, 2021 (Tel Aviv)

Impressive isn't it ?

#Pegasus

Inside they admit "Our external advisors are experienced human rights practitioners & include Cherie Blair leading a team at Omnia Strategy." - page 14

Yes same Cherie Blair who warned Princess Haya that her phone was hacked & spied upon using #Pegasus

nsogroup.com/wp-content/upl…

Anyway, I went through the whole 32 pages of self-praise and finally found someone to contact -

Chaim Gelfand, Vice President, Compliance ( [e-mail] )

Impressive isn't it ?

I wrote to him regarding the situation in #India about #Pegasus misuse and sought details.

To his credit he replied a few days later (21 Sep 2021)

"Dear sir,

I have received your email and shall review in order to revert. It is currently a holiday in Israel so it may take a bit of time.

Chaim"

So far so good, gave him time to revert back.

#Pegasus in #India

Supreme Court hearings were on & we heard from our govt their refusal to provide details to SC hiding behind national security.

I wrote to Chaim again, letting him know the seriousness of the issue & that it was being heard by SC.

I asked him to publicly clarify their position.

Wrote to them cause they claimed

"We publicly affirm our unequivocal respect for human rights. The Human Rights Policy is fully endorsed by our senior management and board of directors, who have expressed their full commitment to adhere thereto, is binding on all our employees"

and more

"and stipulates our expectations for all our business partners and customers. We are committed to respecting
human rights as enshrined in the International Bill of Human Rights and the principles concerning fundamental rights set out in the International Labor..."

"...Organizations Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights guide us in fulfilling our obligation to respect human rights
throughout business activities"

Sadly since then haven't heard from them.

Finally, I wrote to Israeli govt, their Foreign Ministry, two of their newspapers @haaretzcom & @Jerusalem_Post and a human rights organization in Israel @acri_online and also to @UN_HRC @UNHumanRights enclosing my email exchange with the NSO Group #Pegasus .

No response at all.

Request to our citizens -

If the Israeli govt or the NSO Group do not publicly clarify about the use/misuse of #Pegasus along with details, then -

We should consider this as an unfriendly act towards the Indian state and our future governments should respond in similar manner.

Human Rights organizations like @UN_HRC @UNHumanRights @amnesty @hrw @acri_online don't seem to care. Their approach is selective or their attention has to be bought to speak out.

#Pegasus issue has affected many countries, highlighted by media, but Indian govt & SC are silent.

#Pegasus in #India

@AP @AFP @Reuters @washingtonpost @guardian @lemondefr @derspiegel @dwnews @BBCHindi @BBCWorld @smh @haaretzcom @Jerusalem_Post @csmonitor @nytimes @Corriere @LaStampa @WSJ @straits_times @gulf_news @thetribunechd @ttindia @DeccanHerald @IndianExpress @CNN

Same news from @CNN

https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1445856681653506054?s=20

Apologies to @hrw Human Rights Watch - they did the following report on #Pegasus

hrw.org/news/2021/08/2…

News about Dubai misuse of #Pegasus on BBC

https://twitter.com/CrispinBurke/status/1445772779941351426?s=20

@the_hindu

https://twitter.com/the_hindu/status/1446022514019274754?s=20

#India #Israel #Pegasus

more details by @jsrailton

https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1445766924080615426?s=20

And now there is another offering from Israel, even more virulent than #PegasusSpyware - 'Cardiru' spyware.

https://twitter.com/haaretzcom/status/1444568652620001280?s=20