Spanish judge to seek testimony from NSO on Pegasus spyware
Spain's National Court says that a Spanish judge will travel to Israel to seek testimony from the head of tech company NSO regarding the use of its Pegasus spyware in tapping politicians’ phones in the European country
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.A Spanish judge will travel to Israel to seek testimony from the head of tech company NSO, the maker of the controversial Pegasus spyware used in tapping politicians’ phones in Spain, the country's National Court said Tuesday.
The court said that José Luis Calama has decided to lead a judicial commission that will travel to Israel to “take testimony from the CEO of the company that commercializes the Pegasus program.”
Shalev Hulio is the CEO of the Tel Aviv-based NSO Group. The court gave no date for the judge's trip.
The information was made public after the judge removed the seal of secrecy from the case concerning the hacking of the cellphones of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and Spain’s ministers of defense and interior in May and June 2021.
The cyberattack coincided with a diplomatic rift between Spain and Morocco. But Spain’s government, which took the case to Spanish court on discovering the hacks last month, has only said that the hacks came from an “external” power.
NSO says that it only sells its Pegasus spyware to governments for security purposes. Pegasus has been linked to the hacking of other political leaders and activists in other countries. NSO has denied playing any part of this apparent misuse of its evasive technology that has come to light thanks to the work of digital-rights groups inspecting individual phones.
Judge Calama also cited Spain’s Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, to answer questions on July 5.
The court also said that the judge had already questioned the former chief of Spain’s intelligence agency, Paz Esteban, who was fired after the phone hacking was revealed. In what is apparently a separate use of Pegasus by Spain, Esteban acknowledged that her agency had used the technology to tap the phones of some Catalan separatist politicians.