The Spanish government is under pressure to explain why the cellphones of dozens of people linked to the separatist movement were infected with Pegasus between 2017 and 2020.
The Spanish government is under pressure to explain why the cellphones of dozens of people linked to the separatist movement were infected with Pegasus between 2017 and 2020.
Spanish officials said on Monday that the prime minister and defense minister’s cellphones were infected last year with Pegasus spyware, which is available only to government agencies in an unauthorized operation.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s mobile phone was broken into twice in May 2021, and Defense Minister Margarita Robles’ device was targeted once over the following month, Presidency Minister Felix Bolaos said in a hastily called news conference on Monday. .
He said significant amounts of data were being obtained as a result of the breaches, and that the report detailing the hacking had been transferred to Spain’s National Court of Justice for further investigation.
“We have no doubt that this is an illegal, unauthorized intervention,” Mr Bolanos said. “It comes from the creatures of the external state and did not have judicial authority.”
Spain’s socialist-led government is under pressure to explain why the cell phones of dozens of people linked to the separatist movement in the northeastern Catalonia region were infected with Pegasus between 2017 and 2020, according to Citizen Lab, a cybersecurity group of university-affiliated experts. of Toronto.
The disclosures reveal at least 65 people, including elected officials, lawyers and activists, have been targeted with software from two Israeli companies, Candiru and Pegasus’s developer NSO Group.
Spyware quietly infiltrates phones or other devices to harvest data and potentially spy on their owners.
The regional Catalan government has accused Spain’s National Intelligence Center, or CNI, of spying on the separatists, and has declared that it will be necessary for the national authorities to wait until a full explanation is offered and those responsible are punished. Relations with were “on hold”.
The Conservative Popular Party, or PP, was in office in 2017 when Catalan separatists declared independence after an unauthorized referendum, although no further action was taken to execute the declaration. The PP remained in power until mid-2018, when he was ousted by a parliamentary vote by Mr.
The ERC, the main political party in Catalonia and a key ally of the government, has called for the resignation of Defense Minister Ms. Robles. But the spying scandal has left him under pressure from more radical separatists, who are calling for an end to support for Mr. Sanchez’s left-to-centre coalition in the national parliament.
The central government has attempted to ease their concerns with promises of full transparency, the announcement of plans for an internal investigation by the country’s intelligence agency, and a separate investigation by Spain’s ombudsman.
A special parliamentary commission on state secrets has also been set up and the head of the CNI is expected to be questioned by lawmakers later this week, although the discussion on state security issues is not meant to campaign.