Samrtphones have been surveilled with Pegasus Spyware

Latifa and Haya al-Hassain, daughter and ex-wife of the Emir of Dubai, respectively, had their cell phones tapped. The information was advanced by The Guardian and the BBC, in an investigation made to the Israeli company NSO Group, owner of the Pegasus spyware.

Remember that the two princesses were involved in controversies involving the head of state of Dubai. Latifa's case became media coverage after a video in which the princess claimed to be being held hostage by her own father. Haya, the ex-wife of Moahamed bin Rashid Maktoum, fled with the couple's two children to the UK.

In The Guardian's investigation of Pegasus, a list of 180 telephone contacts was revealed that were being targeted by Israeli spyware. Recently, the BBC revealed that this list has, after all, about 50,000 phone numbers, which contain names such as the current French president, Emmanuel Macron.

Research data indicate that in addition to the United Arab Emirates, countries such as India, Mexico, Azerbaijan, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Rwanda, Kazakhstan, Bahrain and Hungary, are nations that have made more surveillance requests.

After the revelations of the investigations by The Guardian and the BBC were reported, Amnesty International said in a statement to have implicated the Israeli company "in the catalog of human rights violations". In turn, the NSO Group reinforces that the various governments, which contracted the Pegasus service, were obliged to use spyware only as a means of espionage to combat "serious crimes and terrorism".