Spain spy chief admits legally hacking some phones
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A leading Catalan separatist politician said Thursday that Spain’s top intelligence official acknowledged that her agency had hacked into the cellphones of “some” of the dozens of politicians reported to be targeted by spyware but she said it had proper judicial authorization.
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A leading Catalan separatist politician said Thursday that Spain’s top intelligence official acknowledged that her agency had hacked into the cellphones of “some” of the dozens of politicians reported to be targeted by spyware but she said it had proper judicial authorization.
Gabriel Rufián, member of a Catalan pro-independence party, spoke after he participated in a closed-door meeting with the director of Spain’s National Intelligence Center, CNI, along with a select group of Spanish lawmakers.
A recent report by the Canadian-based digital rights group Citizen Lab on the use of the controversial Pegasus spyware in Spain said dozens of pro-independence supporters in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region were spied upon using the software. When asked by The Associated Press, Spain’s Defense Ministry, which is in charge of the CNI, refused to comment on the meeting with CNI director Paz Esteban because its contents are considered classified. Leading Spanish media, however, also reported that the director had shown committee members court authorizations for hacking the cellphones of some Catalan separatists. “They (the CNI) admit to the spying, but say that it was carried out against far fewer people than those cited by Citizen Lab,” Rufián said.
As for the rest of the over 60 politicians, lawyers and activists cited as hacking targets by Citizen Lab, Rufián said the CNI director “point(ed) to two possibilities: One, that it was a foreign country; or two, state agencies that are spying beyond their legal limits.”
The highly anticipated meeting took place at Spain’s Parliament building in Madrid.
The Catalan separatists, who want to carve out a new state in northeastern Spain around Barcelona, had directly accused the CNI of being behind the hacks that came to light two weeks ago when the Citizen Lab report was released.
Spain’s government has repeatedly said the CNI cannot tap phones without prior judicial authorization. At the same time, the government said the secrecy law shielding all CNI activities prevents the agency from confirming whether it possesses Pegasus, the spyware sold by Israeli company NSO Group.
While representatives from Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s Socialist party and the opposition Popular Party emerged from Thursday’s meeting saying they were satisfied by Esteban’s explanations, Rufián was not alone in demanding further action.
“We insist that the information that we received today be declassified for the public to know, since it affects fundamental rights,” said Albert Botran, who is among the politicians that Citizen Lab said was spied upon.
The Spanish government has promised that both CNI and the nation’s ombudsman will investigate the Citizen Lab report.