New Criminal Complaint Over Pegasus Spyware Hacking of journalists and activists in the UK
19 September 2024: Four victims of Pegasus spyware in the UK have this week filed a criminal complaint with the Metropolitan Police identifying five accused responsible for the targeted hacking of their phones between 2018 and 2020. The victims, who are journalists and activists residing in the UK, are believed to have been targeted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The five accused are alleged to have breached the Computer Misuse Act 1990 through their roles in enabling the hacking of the victims’ phones by malign actors using the notorious Pegasus software, supplied by the Israeli cyber intelligence firm NSO. Each of the accused had responsibility for the decision to sell Pegasus software to States which are notorious for their human rights abuses and persecution of human rights defenders.
The complaint was prepared by Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) on behalf of the victims.
Victims include:
Anas Altikriti is the founder and CEO of the Cordoba Foundation, a UK-based group that promotes intercultural dialogue in between the West and the Muslim World. His foundation has been critical of governments in the Middle East, in particular the UAE.
Azzam Tamimi is a journalist, academic and political activist of Palestinian heritage who founded the Al-Hiwar TV channel. He is a prominent critic of the Saudi regime.
Mohammed Kozbar is the Chairman of the Finsbury Park Mosque. He has publicly opposed the actions of the government of the UAE.
Yusuf Al Jamri is a Bahraini activist who promotes awareness of political issues and human rights abuses in Bahrain. He sought asylum in the UK after being persecuted in Bahrain.
Accused identified include:
NSO Group Technologies Limited (‘NSO’) is an Israeli software company which supplied Pegasus technology.
Q Cyber Technologies is a Luxembourg-based company inextricable from NSO.
Novalpina Capital is a UK-based private equity firm which undertook a ‘management buyout’ of NSO in 2019.
In recent years, Pegasus has become notorious for its use by malign States against human rights defenders. It was implicated in the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. Following years of campaigns and legal actions, in August 2022, NSO announced it would focus on sales to members of NATO.
The use of Pegasus against targets in the UK has threatened the UK’s sovereignty and security. It has been used in attacks within UK government networks, including the Prime Minister’s Office and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and it was used against a Member of the House of Lords, Fiona Shackleton, when she was acting as the legal representative of Princess Haya of Dubai. The UK government has not yet taken legal action against those responsible.
Anas Altikriti said: "This is an episode of serious breaches to personal as well as to public safety and security. The fact that technological developments are now being used to breach what was only recently regarded as sacrosanct, for the benefit of persecuting political activists, must be of great concern to everyone. Should this go unprosecuted, we can bid farewell to public and personal freedoms, civil liberties and to human rights, especially but not exclusively, in countries that are ruled by autocratic and authoritarian regimes.
This also calls for an international investigation in the increasingly problematic security industry. Which appears to be taking excessive allowances which affect peoples’ lives and put the general public at great risk."
Anas Altikriti, founder and CEO of the Cordoba Foundation said, "This is an episode of serious breaches to personal as well as to public safety and security. The fact that technological developments are now being used to breach what was only recently regarded as sacrosanct, for the benefit of persecuting political activists, must be of great concern to everyone.
Should this go unprosecuted, we can bid farewell to public and personal freedoms, civil liberties and to human rights, especially but not exclusively, in countries that are ruled by autocratic and authoritarian regimes. This also calls for an international investigation in the increasingly problematic security industry. Which appears to be taking excessive allowances which affect peoples’ lives and put the general public at great risk."
Yusuf Al Jamri said, "The devastation I felt after discovering that the security agents who had tortured me in Bahrain had successfully hacked my phone and violated my privacy on British soil was overwhelming. I spent countless sleepless nights fearing the potential harm to those who had entrusted me with their sensitive information. Cyber-attacks on personal privacy must be treated with the same seriousness as hacking a bank—criminals must be held accountable. No one should be above the law. It is the duty of the police to protect us from such violations and hold those responsible accountable."
Leanna Burnard, lawyer at GLAN said: “This criminal complaint presents an opportunity for victims of these egregious human rights violations to finally get justice. Pegasus software has been used by malign actors overseas to undermine the UK’s sovereignty and threaten its democratic values. It is in the national interest that those responsible be held to account to demonstrate that attacks on human rights defenders on British soil will not be tolerated.”
Sayed Ahmed Alwadaei, Advocacy director at the Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD), said, “It takes great courage for victims of state-sponsored hacking on British soil to come forward and seek an investigation from the Met Police into the criminal acts that have destroyed their lives. The police must take these allegations very seriously and conduct a thorough and transparent investigation.”
Monika Sobiecki, partner at Bindmans, said, “We hope, alongside the civil claims which Bindmans LLP is leading on, this criminal complaint will be a pivotal moment for human rights defenders and civil society leaders who have been the victims of a targeted campaign over many years, allegedly of hacking and privacy invasion using Pegasus spyware. Although filed in the UK, we hope the criminal complaint will send shockwaves through the spyware industry globally, to demonstrate that no technology company is above the law”