Maria Laura Avignolo
07/26/2021 12:47
Clarín.com
World
Updated 07/26/2021 12:47 PM
Pegasus is his name.
A system of Israeli espionage "malware", which has copied the cell phones of 17 heads of state, 180 journalists, dozens of prime ministers, ministers, human rights lawyers, opponents of the governments that buy it and human rights defenders in all the world.
But there is a more disturbing side: in Mexico, it is used by
private companies.
The Israeli company NSO, made up of three executives who belonged to the cyber espionage unit of their country's army, are its proprietary officers.
They have sold it, with Israel's authorization, to generally autocratic states, which monitor their opponents.
Among them Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, the Emirates such as Dubai, Mexico, Hungary and Morocco.
A group of 17 media and sites, supported by the French company Forbidden Stories and the humanitarian organization Amnesty International, investigated his actions.
One of those spied on is French President Emmanuel Macron, his former Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and 4 of his ministers for none other than Morocco,
an ally “friend of France”.
One of those spied on is French President Emmanuel Macron.
Photo: AFP
The investigation has revealed
a sinister side
: Saudi Arabia monitored the first woman and the fiancée of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi opposition journalist and columnist for the Washington Post, who was dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul and his body has not yet appeared.
Mexico breaks records
Mexico surpasses the records:
15,000 telephones of journalists
"tapped" and the journalist Cecilio Pineda, assassinated, when he described that he was being watched.
The Pegasus was bought during the government of President Peña Nieto.
The Emir of Dubai uses it for other purposes than to hunt down terrorists.
He watched over Princess Latifa, his daughter who fled and ended up captured on a yacht in the Indian Ocean by order of her father.
The UN has asked for proof of life.
Nobody knows exactly what his condition is like.
It also served to monitor his sixth wife, Princess Jordana Haya, who fled to London with their two children, fearful of taking the same risk as Latifa.
Edith Olivares Ferreto, executive director of Amnesty International in the Mexico section.
Photo: courtesy Amnesty International
Edith Olivares Ferreto is the executive director of Amnesty International in the Mexico section, one of the countries that most actively
used Pegasus indiscriminately.
Olivares believes that they continue to use it and demands not only to know the contracts of the Israeli company with the states but to know how they were trained in the countries to use the software, who they were, what departments and if it continues to be used until now,
as he suspects.
Amnesty, based in London with subsidiaries in several countries around the world,
contributed its technological laboratory in Berlin
to discover the 50,000 telephone lines that Pegasus monitors around the world.
This was the conversation with Edith Olivares Ferrero, Amnesty Executive Director of the Mexico section by phone with
Clarín.
- The Pegasus system of infiltration of telephones to the most powerful people in the world, including Heads of State, Prime Ministers, businessmen and journalists, moves everyone. How did you come to investigate this system? How was it decided? Since when did this investigative operation begin?
-The Pegasus project is an investigation carried out by a network of journalists, a network called Forbidden Stories.
It is a network that is made up of more than eighty journalists from 17 different countries in the world, which include some Mexican media.
At Amnesty International, we are technical partners in this investigation.
She reveals that clients of the NSO group have used this spyware around the world to target human rights activists, journalists, legal professionals and others.
At Amnesty International, we have an AmnestyTech security lab, which is based in Berlin.
This lab partnered with the Forbidden Stories consortium to carry out this research.
-What was your role?
-Our role focused on performing a digital forensic analysis of the devices of people suspected of having been subjected to digital surveillance.
One of the important findings is that the AmnestyTech lab checked just over 50,000 phone lines.
Of those, 15 thousand are Mexican.
In other words, 15,000 of the lines suspected of having been subjected to digital surveillance are Mexican.
This means that almost a third, just under a third of the total lines we analyze, are Mexican.
Mexico, the country that spies the most on journalists
-Why is Mexico so interested in spying on human rights defenders, politicians, and relatives of the students who disappeared?
-That is a question that I have been asked a lot in this last week and I answer the same thing that I have answered other journalists.
This is a question that should be asked of the Mexican State.
Why is it important for the Mexican State to have under surveillance people who are dedicated to the defense of human rights, activism, journalism, which are activities that are clearly carried out within the framework of legality, but which also generate a great value, both for Mexican society and for the State itself? It is very worrying that, for many decades in Mexico, the State has developed different surveillance activities.
And I would say that perhaps the most worrying thing is that this practice has tended to become normal in the country.
-Has it been under any government?
- The most recent statements by the President of the Republic indicate that he is not going to make a complaint because they have watched him for a long time and that this is normal in Mexico.
We cannot accept this as normal.
It is not normal.
It is a violation of human rights and we believe that it should be brought up in that way.
- What other heads of state have been watched? What other countries? Emmanuel Macron, the French president, was under surveillance. Apparently for Morocco, which is one of its fundamental allies.
-The other element for which it has been very striking in Mexico is that, precisely, Mexico is one of the few States.
They are like ten states that appear on the list, which appear to have been known clients of this NSO group.
And in that group of states were Saudi Arabia, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Rwanda.
I must say, regrettably, States that are not distinguished precisely by their respect for their human rights.
But forensic investigations include people who are in Germany, Belgium, Canada, the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Turkey.
Because what is found, as you well point out in the case that has already been made public of President Macron, is that the espionage comes from another country.
-What is the particularity with Mexico?
What is striking about the Mexican case is that in Mexico people from Mexico are investigated and spied on.
That is, to people from the opposition.
When the President of the Republic was spied on, he was part of the opposition.
And people who are from their own country are spied on.
The names of some other heads of state that could be on this list are not made public by us.
In some cases, it is the people themselves who are making it public, because at Amnesty International we respect, of course, the confidentiality of the information they provided us.
They spy on opponents, journalists and victims
-In Mexico, many journalists were spied on, from the time of the Peña Nieto government. Why?
-Actually, probably long before.
In Mexico, espionage practices, both espionage practices within the legal framework and those outside the legal framework, are very common.
It has been very common, at least since the time of the Dirty War in the 1960s and 1970s, for the state to resort to this security mechanism.
And what we do have now evidence, through this investigation, is that with this tool, with this Pegasus, in Mexico it is called “malware”, with this software, people, journalists were infected with the virus.
At least twenty-five journalists are on this list.
-And their relatives ...
-You have to remember that these people and everyone around them, their family members, the people with whom they communicate, because the virus enters all contacts.
Very unfortunately I must say that this practice is written in a series of attacks and risks experienced by human rights defenders and journalists in Mexico.
In Mexico last year, nineteen journalists were murdered.
Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries for practicing journalism and the most dangerous for human rights defenses.
And the attacks range from a constant narrative to the authorities, which discredits the work of defending human rights, and which discredits the work of the press.
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
Photo: EFE
In recent months we have seen many attacks on human rights defenders questioning some organizations like Article 19 and the way they are financed.
In this there is a narrative in that sense.
But then we have these spying practices.
And we have attacks that include direct attacks on the security, integrity and lives of human rights defenders and journalists.
-Because one of the journalists died after this investigation became known, right?
-There is indeed a case of a very unfortunate journalist: Cecilio Pineda, who was murdered a few days after he met, that he learned that he had been infected with this virus.
Very unfortunate, I must say that the company NSO Group has pointed out that there is no link between one thing and another: that is, between espionage and murder.
But it is striking that he was assassinated shortly after.
In general, the environment is not safe for the defense of human rights, nor for journalism in Mexico.
A private company of ex-army spies
-Which are the countries that have bought this Pegasus system? What has been the criterion used to use it and, especially, what
participation does the State of Israel have
in approving the sale to those countries?
-The countries that we have indications that are suspected of this NSO group are: Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Mexico, Rwanda, Togo and the United States.
These are the countries that we know were clients of NSO, or we have very strong suspicions.
In the case of Mexico we have no suspicions.
We know that Mexico did have a contract with the NSO group.
-What do Israel and NSO say?
This is an Israeli company.
It is important to note that it is a private company.
By the way today, the Israeli state has decided to carry out an investigation into the way the company operates and there was already a decision by the Tel Aviv Court not to require the Ministry of Defense to revoke the export license.
But today the Israeli state has indicated that it will carry out an investigation into the group.
What NSO has publicly stated is that they sell this Pegasus software only to States and that they sell it solely for purposes of fighting terrorism and that it includes organized crime.
What we know is that in practice it has not been used that way.
The Khashoggi case
-There is another very serious case, which is the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Was Pegasus used before his murder and after his murder? Because it is also known that they were listening to their first wife and also his suitor, before being dismembered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
-Yes, it is indeed a case with a certain similarity to the one that has been presented in Mexico: that of Cecilio Pineda.
That is, what we have is two pieces of evidence.
One, that they were infected with the virus.
Two, who were killed after being infected with the virus.
In other words, there was a surveillance activity.
And I do want to be emphatic in this because these activities are outside the law.
Jamal Khashoggi.
Photo: AFP
- Absolutely.
-Absolutely because here I do want to be clear. All States carry out espionage activities within the law. When are they within the law? When there is a competent judicial authority, which issues an authorization to the respective security agency of each country, to monitor a person who puts the security of the State at risk, for a specified time, to certain people. It is done within the framework of an internal security activity of the State. And here what is striking is that there are States that decided to put journalism and the defense of human rights or activism in the spotlight, as if they were risky activities.
That is why we say that the human rights of these people are being violated.
Privacy, freedom of expression and violating the rights of all people in their environment and of society as a whole.
Because what happens with this virus is that it enters the cell phone of the "political target" person and then, in those around them.
That is why we see couples, ex-partners, daughters, sons, relatives appear.
Even medical personnel of people who were infected with the virus.
There is an impressive spread of the spy ring.
All outside the law.
About people who do not constitute a risk to the public safety of any country.
What they are doing is developing work that is carried out in a totally legitimate way and that even contributes to the construction of democracy in each country.
Links with the Israeli army
-What connection does this company and the system have with the Israeli intelligence service? Because apparently former Mossad officials are the owners of the company.
- Indeed there seems to be some link between the company, or between those who made up the company, and some intelligence services of the Israeli State. However, although we from Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories have informed the company on multiple occasions that its technology was being used to commit abuses, the company did not act to establish adequate safeguards. What we are very interested in pointing out is that we have called on the company to make the contracts transparent, so that they also make the formation of their own company transparent. That is, who are the people that make it up and with what objectives. And also to make it transparent, and here we call on both the States and the company,how the virus began to be used to spy on people, who in theory were not the target of the software.
-What influence does the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and the countries of the Arab world, especially the Gulf monarchies, have on the collaboration for the sale of this system to countries like Saudi Arabia?
-The way in which the company operates and how it distributes contracts, or with whom it establishes its business relationships, is not part of our investigation.
We do think that it is very important that we have public knowledge after this scandal that has been generated worldwide.
That from here we move on to decision-making, that allow this not to be repeated in Mexico, or in any country in the world.
What we are seeing is that effectively, as a result of this investigation, other information is coming out in parallel.
We believe that it is important that the company itself comes out to provide us with information about this type of relationship.
The ethics of cyber technology
-In France they are talking about "the ethics of cybernetic technology and artificial intelligence" after this scandal. But if you sell Pegasus to Prince Mohamed of Saudi Arabia, you know that you are going to be part of that system to investigate dissent. What is the responsibility of the government of Israel when it authorizes this sale?
-Yes, indeed this is one of the important points thinking about what to do from now on. From Amnesty International, we have called on the NSO group and its main investor, Novalpina Capital, to take action on their own initiative to ensure that they are not contributing to causing any human rights abuse. They must respond to abuses that have already occurred - or may occur - when they sell or distribute this type of software. We have called on the company to exercise due diligence on human rights and take measures to ensure that its technological products, which they generate and distribute, are not used to attack journalism and civil society. Ensure that they are no longer used for illegal surveillance.
-What else have they demanded?
We are also calling on them to suspend contracts with governments that have consistently used their tools to conduct illegal targeted surveillance.
They must ensure transparency regarding the volume, nature, destination and end user of digital surveillance technology transfers.
We firmly believe that there is a responsibility of companies and that they must assume that responsibility.
Companies will be aware of who their clients may be and will also have to have their own codes of ethics.
In such a way that it is guaranteed that the products they generate and the way in which they are distributed is not used for activities that violate human rights.
I want to be very clear on this: it is not worth washing your hands.
The role of Israel
-But how does this service work? Is that service exported or can it be operated from Israel itself, or can the Israelis continue to operate it as FreeLancer, without having to sell it to the States? Can you operate from Tel Aviv, where the company is based? If they have to tap phones, can they do it from anywhere?
-What the company has pointed out is that they did sell formally, that they exported.
In fact, the Israeli government has recognized this: that this company exported the software and has export permits.
It was states that bought the software.
The NSO Group's public statements are that they only sell this software to States and that they sell it only to combat terrorism.
So if the software has been acquired or sold to other interests, or to individuals or to companies, that would be contrary to the NSO group's own regulations.
They are the ones who have indicated that they only sell to States and that they only sell it for these purposes.
-Do the states explain its use?
-Here the interesting thing is that both the States that acquired the software and the NSO group explain to everyone what it is like, who decided that the software should be used for the surveillance of political objectives.
This I cannot answer you because we are not clear about it.
We do not know how the decision was made.
And, in fact, in the particular case of Mexico, I can tell you that one of the demands that Amnesty International is making is that the Mexican State make the contract public.
-What is known so far?
-There have been a series of statements from the Government, from the current administration, explaining how much was invested and when the contracts were made.
But we, the call we are making is that the contract be made public, what is it like, who decided that it could be used for these purposes.
We also want to know the exact date on which the contract ended its validity, because this administration has said that since 2018, it said it very recently, they are no longer operating in Mexico NSO Group.
This software is not being used.
We want evidence of this, to be sure that this call is not being tapped through this software.
- I have no doubt that it is intervened. (laughs)
-And we make this call to Mexico from Amnesty International.
But to all countries as well.
It is that here not only the problem is the people directly affected.
It is the impact on the work of journalism and the work of defending human rights, which affects all of us in Mexico and other countries in the world.
How and from where do they operate?
-There is another question that is very important to answer and that is how the software operates. Who trains and how they train, and where do they train the operators of that software? If the Israelis operate this software together with the officials of the countries to which they sell it?
- That is a very good question, because it would be necessary to know if finished the contract, the practice is finished. That is, if there are no other contracts or there is no apprenticeship or there is no generation of another technology. And in this particular case, we are aware of the information from the review activities we did, forensic analysis of digital phones. We know how it operates once it arrives.
Pero cómo opera en términos de quiénes toman las decisiones, si hubo capacitación y todo eso, todo eso sería interesante de conocer en los contratos y en la forma en que estuvieron actuando en el interior de cada país. Y esto que señalas me parece muy importante. Agradezco la pregunta, porque en México la narrativa de la presidencia ha estado muy centrada en el costo del software. Es decir, en cuánto dinero invirtió el gobierno mexicano en la compra de este software o cuánto dinero se estaba invirtiendo en eso. Y eso es sin duda un tema importante. Es sin duda importante saber cuánto se invierte en esto y que probablemente se deje de invertir en otros temas de mayor importancia para el país. Pero nos parece que eso no es lo más importante.
-¿Qué es lo más importante?
-Yo sí quiero señalar que para Amnistía Internacional aquí lo más importante es poner el acento en que hubo o hay una violación de derechos humanos a las personas que fueron vigiladas, que tenemos un vacío legal en el país que es necesario atender en este momento. Estamos en un llamado al Congreso de la Unión para que legislen la materia, y para que también las investigaciones se desarrollen y se sancione a quienes resulten responsables hasta el más alto nivel.
-¿Se han presentado demandas?
-En México varios periodistas y defensores pusieron demandas. Sabemos, por información que ha hecho pública la fiscalía, que solamente un caso tiene posibilidades de ser judicializado y por lo tanto solo un caso sería sancionado. E incluso el presidente ha dicho que a él no le interesa poner una demanda. Lo cual creemos que sería un buen mensaje para el resto de la ciudadanía demandar cuando se nos violan nuestros derechos y cuando se comete un delito en nuestra contra. Porque eso permite abatir la impunidad en México, que es también escandalosa.
¿Quién espía?
-Hay otro punto importante y es quién accede a este sistema Pegasus. ¿Son los servicios de inteligencia, es la policía, es el partido en el gobierno? ¿Quiénes?
-Esa es otra muy buena pregunta por la cual quisiéramos conocer, por lo menos en el caso de México, el contrato. Por lo que ha dicho el grupo es: "Nosotros le vendemos solo a los Estados". Y aquí lo interesante es saber quién en los Estados, qué dependencia es la que adquiere ese contrato. En México, por lo menos, tenemos una Secretaría de Seguridad Pública, que es el equivalente a un Ministerio en otros países, y teníamos una agencia que se dedicaba justamente a las actividades de vigilancia y espionaje en el país, que se llamaba el CISEN.
Esa entidad ya no existe en México. Por eso el presidente de la República dice que en México ya no se espía. Lo cual, permíteme decir, tengo serias dudas de que no se realicen labores de espionaje. Y no estoy diciendo al margen de la ley sino apegadas a la ley.
Creo que todas suponemos que así es cómo se combate el narcotráfico en México. Son actividades que se dan normalmente en los Estados. No sabemos en México porque lo que se nos presentó el día ayer en las conferencias mañaneras, es la forma en que hay contratos adentro del Estado y los grupos que fueron contratando a NSO. La ruta del dinero fue lo que se presentó ayer. Porque es la narrativa que parece interesar más a la presidencia de la República, el tema del dinero.
-El dinero es lo de menos. La cuestión es saber quién nos espía.
-Claro. Quién nos espía, porque probablemente eso nos dé idea de por qué. De cómo nos convertimos en objetivo de espionaje.
- Exactamente. Ahora, otro interrogante es por qué Marruecos espía a Francia. ¿Hay alguna explicación en esas interferencias que expliquen por qué Marruecos espía a Francia, al presidente y a catorce ministros?
-Yo ignoro absolutamente los motivos por los cuales se toman ese tipo de decisiones. Pero me estoy riendo porque en México también ha sucedido, que se ha hecho público que dentro de las personas que fueron espiadas, también se encontraban la familia del entonces presidente: es decir, la esposa, los hijos.
-Tienen mucho trabajo los espías en México con” la casa grande” y “la casa chica”. (risas)
-Exacto. Y que no se entiende muy bien cuáles son los motivos. Por qué se espía a los enemigos y amigos. Algo interesante aquí también de saber es que cuando esto se utiliza de forma masiva, podría estarse utilizando con muchísimos objetivos. Y en el caso de México, las personas vinculadas a actividades políticas, no solamente de defensa de derechos humanos sino también de la oposición en ese momento. Se ha hecho conocido hasta el cardiólogo del entonces candidato, hoy presidente de la República, porque el virus se expande y se quiere conocer todas las situaciones muy personales, incluso de los objetivos de la vigilancia. Es complicado de entender, cuando uno se mueve en el ámbito de los derechos humanos, con qué objetivo se toman esas decisiones de espionaje.
- Este vínculo de Pegasus con el Estado de Israel, con las ventas, ¿puede cambiar si Benjamín Netanyahu no está más en el poder?
-No sabría decirte si estas decisiones pasan por las personas que están en el poder. Nuestro llamado sería que estas son las decisiones de Estado. Es decir que sean los Estados los que asuman las responsabilidades. Ojalá que los cambios políticos de personas permitan que haya una mayor vigencia de los derechos humanos en algunos países. Pero las decisiones que toma cada gobernante en particular, necesitaríamos también que sean decisiones estables, como en carácter de Estado, no de gobierno.
El Emir, Latifa y Haya, la princesa
-Hay dos casos graves también. Es por parte de Dubái, la persecución a la princesa Latifa, de la que no se sabe prácticamente dónde está porque está secuestrada en Dubái, y de la princesa Haya, que era la sexta esposa jordana del emir de Dubái. Ellas fueron completamente perseguidas por este sistema que compró el Emir. ¿Qué es lo que ustedes saben sobre esto? Es un caso de violación de derechos humanos sistemática, tanto de la princesa Latifa como de la princesa Haya, que tuvieron que huir de Dubái.
-Sí. Desconozco yo la situación de ellas en particular. Hay algunos de los casos que han sido muy conocidos por su relevancia y su posicionamiento en la agenda pública. Para nosotras, desde Amnistía Internacional, lo que es muy importante subrayar es que no hay ninguna persona, ninguna, que debió haber sido infectada con este virus.
-¿Qué tienen en común los espiados?
-Claramente todos son objetivos de carácter político. Nos preocupó mucho que hay varios de los casos, en donde las actividades de espionaje claramente parecen tener un vínculo con otros riesgos que viven estas personas. No podemos ver esto tampoco de manera aislada. No es que estas personas solamente fueron infectas con el virus Pegasus. Esta es una estrategia que claramente se inserta en un marco de ataques a las personas que ejercen actividades políticas, que se vinculan con la oposición o que ejercen periodismo y la defensa de los derechos humanos.
Los países espías deben reparar económicamente
-¿Y cuál ha sido el impacto de la denuncia de ustedes por parte de los que ustedes han denunciado? ¿Les han hecho procesos judiciales, como ha anunciado Marruecos? ¿Qué es lo que sucede con la denuncia?
-Como Amnistía Internacional, no hemos hecho denuncias de carácter penal. Estamos en algunos casos particulares evaluando la posibilidad de apoyar a algunas de las personas que han puesto denuncias. Incluso apoyarlas con acciones de seguridad, si es que lo requiere, o con apoyo en litigio estratégico. Nosotras directamente lo que hemos hecho es apoyar en esta investigación, ser socias técnicas, brindando los recursos de nuestro laboratorio de seguridad.
-¿Qué más han hecho?
-Lo que hemos hecho también es hacer pública esta información y haciendo un llamado a personas en todo el mundo a que tomen acción. Nos parece parece totalmente respetable y apoyamos a todas las personas en el mundo que estén poniendo las denuncias por las vías legales de sus propios países.
Nos parecen que esto puede contribuir a abatir la impunidad y a asentar un precedente, para que se establezcan garantías de no repetición en todos los Estados y para todas las personas que fueron afectadas. Creemos que es importante también empezar a pensar en cada uno de los Estados, cómo se les va a reparar el daño a las decenas de miles de personas que vieron comprometido su derecho a la intimidad, durante el tiempo que fueron infectadas por el virus.
París, corresponsal
ap
Mirá también
Pegasus: ¿Por qué Marruecos espió a Emmanuel Macron?
