Politicians and activists from Catalonia have been attacked with the mercenary spyware „Pegasus“, the scope is almost unbelievable. According to a report by the Canadian group Citizen Lab in April of this year, at least 65 people are said to be involved. In addition to the current president of the Catalan autonomous government, Pere Aragonès, you were also spied upon this way. What is known so far about the extent of the scandal known as „CatalanGate“?

So far we have confirmation that more than 60 politicians, activist, advisors, lawyers and family members have been spied on by Pegasus, although in reality we believe there have been many more. Due to the very nature of Pegasus, it is very difficult to determine who has been infected and when, but it is very likely that we are dealing with the most extensive case of European espionage in the last 30 years. This is one of our specific requests, to be able to know who has been spied on and who has authorised it.… Weiterlesen

Left MEPs will present findings from missions to Spain, Cyprus, Greece and Israel. They will be joined by very special guests that include victims of the illegal use of this spyware as well as those involved in uncovering the abuse.

16.30-19.00, European Parliament, Altiero Spinelli (ASP) 1G2, Brussels

Join online: https://ep.interactio.eu/j4kd-elrp-synl… Weiterlesen

1 November (Cyprus):

• 19.30 – 20.30: Elias Stephanou, legal expert
• 20.30 – 22.00: Fanis Makrides, journalist; Makarios Drousiotis, writer

2 November (Cyprus/ Greece):

• 8.30 – 9.30: Natasa Pilides, Minister for Energy, Commerce and Industry; Kyriacos Kokkinos, Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy
• 10.00 – 11.00: Attorney General George L Savvides, Law Office of the Republic of Cyprus
• 11.30 – 13.00: House of Representatives: Committee on Institutions, Merit; Commissioner for Administration (Ombudsman); Committee of Legal Affairs, Justice and Public Orders
• 19.00 – 20.30 Nektaria Stamouli; Nikolas Leontopoulos; Anastasios Telloglou; Yannis Souliotis

3 November:

• 9.00 – 10.00: Members of the former Investigative Committee of the Greek Parliament
• 10.00 – 11.00: Members of the former Investigative Committee of the Greek Parliament
• 11.00 – 12.00 Members of the former Investigative Committee of the Greek Parliament
• 12.00 – 14.00: Giorgios Gerapetritis, Minister of State
• 14.15 – 15.00: Sotiria Papageorgopoulou, Head of the Athens Public Prosecutor’s office
• 15.15 – 16.00: Vasilios Papakostas, Director of the Cyber Crime Prosecution Directorate of Hellenic Police
• 16.15 – 17.15: Kefaloyiannis, Chair of the former inquiry committee of the Hellenic Parliament
• 17.30 – 19.00: Meeting with victims: Christos Spirtzis, Member of Greek Parliament; Nikos Androulakis, MEP; Thanasis Koukakis, journalist

4 November:

• 9.00 – 10.00: Christos Rammos, President of ADAE
• 10.00 – 11.00: NGOs, Human Rights Defenders: Stefanos Loukopoulos, Vouliwatch; Lefteris Papagiannakis, Fotini Kokkinaki, Hellenic League for Human Rights; Stefanos Vitoratos, HomoDigitalis
• 11.00: Press conference

Panel 1:

• Ot van Daalen, Institute for Information law, UvA
• David Kaye, former UN special rapporteur for freedom of expression

Panel 2:

• Krzysztof Brejza, targeted with Pegasus while head of election campaign
• Giovanni Sartor, Part-time professor at Faculty of Law at the University of Bologna and at the EUI
• Iverna McGowan, Director, Europe Office of Center for Democracy and Technology

Panel 1

• Ángel Vallejo, Head of Institutional Relations THIBER
• Jesper Lund, Chairman of IT-Pol, member of EDRi
• Wojciech Klicki, Lawyer, Panoptykon Foundation

Panel 2

• Ioannis Kouvakas, Senior Legal Officer and Legal Coordinator – Privacy International
• Achim Klabunde, Uni Bonn & Deutsche Vereinigung für Datenschutz

• Shane Huntley, Director of Google Threat Analysis Group
• Jo De Muynck, Head of Operational Cooperation Unit at ENISA
• Saad Kadhi, Head of CERT-EU
• Rosanna Kurrer, Cyberwayfinder

Dear Aminatou, you are a non-violent advocate for the independence of Western Sahara, and for this you have received, among others, the alternative Nobel Prize. This is probably why you were attacked by the Pegasus spyware. What exactly happened? When was your phone infected?

I am a human rights defender in Western Sahara, and since my childhood I have been involved in the peaceful struggle for the independence of my country Western Sahara, and because of this I have suffered all kinds of atrocities from the Moroccan occupation authorities. I was a victim of enforced disappearance (from November 1987 to June 1991), torture and arbitrary detention. I was fired from my job in 2005 and expelled from my country in November 2009 and sent back, against my will and without passport, on a plane to Lanzarote in the Canary Islands. My children were not spared from the repressive Moroccan policy.

As a gesture of recognition of the justness of the cause of my people, the Saharawi People, and to encourage me to continue my peaceful struggle for their legitimate rights, several international NGOs and state bodies have awarded me several human rights prizes… the last prize was the Alternative Nobel Prize 2019 awarded by the Right Livelihood Foundation.

As for your question, I assure you that I have been under surveillance by the Moroccan secret intelligence services since my release in June 1991, and because of the circumstances of my Saheawi patriotic activism in which I have been involved since my youth, I have always been careful with my telephone communications, my emails and the information I share in public. The same information has always been used by Morocco to limit my freedoms to the maximum and subsequently perpetrate serious violations against my person.… Weiterlesen