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NSO Spyware Found on Phones of Jordanian Human Rights Activists

Spyware sold by Israel’s NSO Group was discovered on the cellphones of four Jordanian human rights activists, and researchers determined that the information from the phones was hacked by the Pegasus spyware over a two-year period. The findings were announced on Tuesday by Front Line Defenders and Citizen Lab. At least some of the hacking was carried out by the Jordanian government, according to the researchers. Jordan has denied the allegations. The targeted activists are Ahmed al-Neimat, an anti-corruption activist who is now banned by Jordan’s government from working or leaving the country; human rights lawyer Malik Abu Orabi; Suhair Jaradat, a female journalist and human rights activist and another unnamed female human rights activist and journalist. Meanwhile, a Palestinian lawyer with French citizenship who is currently detained in administrative detention ordered by an Israeli military court in March over allegations that he is a “threat to security,” has filed a lawsuit in a French court against NSO for illegally infiltrating his phone. Salah Hamouri worked at Addameer, one of six Palestinian nongovernmental organizations Israel named a terror organization in October, Al Jazeera reported. NSO has come under scrutiny following reports that its Pegasus spyware has been used by certain governments around the world to spy on human rights activists, politicians, and journalists. NSO says the software was sold to countries only to allow their government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to fight terrorism and crime.