“The finding by a senior judge that NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware was used by the ruler of Dubai to hack the phone of his ex-wife and five of her associates, all resident in England, raises fresh questions about Cherie Blair’s involvement with the company.”
“NSO has previously said that its malware, which infects iPhones and Android devices to enable operators of the tool to extract messages, photos and emails, record calls and secretly activate microphones, is only intended for use by its government clients against criminals and terrorists.”
“However, in a judgment published on Wednesday, Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the family division of the high court, found that Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum had expressly or implicitly directed his agents to target the phone of Princess Haya, two of her solicitors including a member of the House of Lords, the princess’s personal assistant and two members of her security staff.”
“This happened at a significant time in legal proceedings between the couple – a far cry from criminals and terrorists.”
“Blair is an adviser to NSO on human rights, and the judgment is likely to subject her role to further scrutiny, particularly given past concerns raised about the QC’s personal and business interests and those of her husband, Tony Blair.”
“Journalists, human rights activists and lawyers are among tens of thousands of people believed to be identified as people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016, as revealed by an investigation by the Guardian and 16 other media organisations in the Pegasus project investigation. Some may wonder why the company does not appear to have acted so decisively against many other of its clients accused of abusing its technology.”
“Past controversies involving Blair include when she lobbied Hillary Clinton, then US secretary of state, on behalf of the crown prince of Qatar, which the QC characterised as harmless. She also faced criticism for representing the government of the Maldives in its case against the country’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, who was jailed for 13 years for terrorism after a trial ruled to be unfair by a UN working group.”
“Cherie Blair faces scrutiny about her work for a secretive company behind a spyware system despite exposing its use in the hacking of a Conservative peer.”
“The wife of Tony Blair, the former Labour leader, is an ethics adviser to NSO, the Israeli intelligence company behind Pegasus spyware.”
“She called Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia in August last year saying that the divorce lawyer and her client, the former wife of the ruler of Dubai, appeared to have been victims of hacking. Blair, 67, a QC, told the High Court that she had been contacted “at nearly midnight Israeli time” by NSO and informed that “their software may have been misused to monitor the phone of Baroness Shackleton and her client, Her Royal Highness Princess Haya”.”
“Six days later Blair called Shackleton again and “confirmed it was the Emirate of Dubai, not [the United Arab Emirates] in general, who she was talking about,” the High Court was told.”
“Hours before Blair’s initial call Shackleton’s law firm, Payne Hicks Beach (PHB), had received a warning from Martyn Day, a human rights lawyer. He said that a Canadian computer expert who was assisting a UAE activist who had been targeted using Pegasus had found evidence that PHB had also been targeted.”
“NSO later confirmed that Shackleton had been targeted. Its London lawyers, Schillings, initially told PHB that Blair was not privy to the identity of any of the company’s clients.”
“NSO has faced international criticism after Amnesty claimed it had evidence that people of “interest” to its spyware clients included Roula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, and Hanan Elatr, wife of the murdered dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.”
“Blair set up Omnia Strategy in 2007. NSO hired the company to act as an external ethical adviser and highlighted the role of Blair and Omnia three times in a report published last month to demonstrate its “preservation and protection of human rights”.”
Blair “has previously issued a statement saying she was “encouraged by [NSO Group’s] recent progress on human rights matters”. She said: “NSO Group’s commitment to implementing the UN guiding principles on business and human rights is critically important for the company, the sector in which they operate, and our society.””
“Sir Andrew McFarlane, president of the family division of the High Court, said Blair’s evidence was “entirely compatible with, and is not contrary to, a conclusion that the source of the hacking was the [United Arab Emirates]”. He added: “It is clear from Mrs Blair’s account that, from day one, NSO had sufficient information that its software had been used against Baroness Shackleton and [Princess Haya] to cause the senior management to take steps to make contact, during the night, to alert PHB.””
“The spyware used by the ruler of Dubai to hack into the mobile telephone of a Tory peer and others is officially designed for intelligence agencies and police.”
“The Pegasus system can record calls, copy messages and photographs and secretly film users. It can also access address books, call history, calendars, emails and internet browsing histories.”
“The software can infect billions of phones running iOS or Android operating systems without users having to do anything like opening a message or clicking on a rogue link.”
“Pegasus was created by NSO Group Technologies which was reportedly founded by former members of Unit 8200, specialists in the Israeli Intelligence Corps responsible for collecting signals intelligence and code breaking.”
“President Macron is among 14 serving or former national leaders to have allegedly been spied on by the software. Others include President Ramaphosa of South Africa and Imran Khan, the Pakistani prime minister, according to research by Amnesty International. Clients of NSO are reported to have identified 50,000 mobile telephone users since 2016, the group says.”
Read more: Ruling in Princess Haya case raises fresh questions for Cherie Blair and Cherie Blair is adviser to NSO, the firm behind Pegasus spyware (archived)
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