DANICAKI RKAAP communication

London (AP) — Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum hacks the phone of his ex-wife Princess Haya and her lawyer during a court battle over custody of her two children. The British High Court found on Wednesday.

Sheikh Mohammed, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, gives “explicit or implied power” to hack the princess and her lawyer’s phone using Pegasus spyware manufactured by Israel’s NSO Group. The court said. This software is exclusively licensed to the nation-state for use in security services.

“If the situation is not dealt with by governments, tech companies, and other institutions, we would say that this kind of thing is not only for dissidents, journalists, and ex-wives of the world, but probably for ordinary people as well. It can be a target for surveillance or it can be vulnerable, “he said. “I think it’s important to tackle this now, before it becomes an even bigger problem.”

Wednesday’s decision is the latest episode of a long-running custody battle between Sheikh Mohammed, 72, and his estranged wife. Princess Haya, 47, fled to Britain with her children in April 2019, saying she was afraid of her husband’s intimidation and intimidation.

The decision is important because Judge Andrew McFarlane has argued that Sheikh Mohammed needs to build trust with the court not to take unilateral action to remove children from their mother’s care.

“The findings of this ruling prove that he acted in the opposite way of building trust,” McFarlane said in the ruling. “The findings represent, to a large extent, the complete abuse of trust, and in fact the abuse of power.”

The judge previously ruled that Sheikh Mohammed conducted a horror and intimidation campaign against his estranged wife and ordered the kidnapping of his two daughters.

Sheikh Mohammed’s lawyer chose not to provide evidence to counter the alleged hack, proving that the princess had hacked the phone or ordered a hack that could have occurred in the UAE or Dubai. Claimed not.

The court was also told that Sheikh Mohammed cannot confirm or deny whether the UAE has a contract with the NSO for the use of Pegasus software.

However, his lawyer suggested that other countries such as Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Jordan may have been liable for hacking in an attempt to embarrass Sheikh Mohammed.

“The father has never shown any signs of concern to the mother caring for the children because the phone was hacked and the security was compromised,” McFarlane said. “Instead, he marshalled a formidable forensic team, challenged the findings that his mother sought, and filed proceedings with her in every respect.”

Sheikh Mohammed said he continued to deny allegations of “assumed national security activities” after the ruling.

In a statement, Sheikh Mohammed said, “As the head of government involved in private family proceedings, it is not appropriate to provide evidence on such delicate matters, either personally or through an advisor to a foreign court. “.

Neither the United Arab Emirates nor the Dubai government participated in the proceedings, so the court’s decision was based on incomplete information, Sheikh said. He also said the decision was unfair because it was based on evidence that was not disclosed to him.

Pegasus breaks into your phone, vacuums your personal and location data, and secretly controls your smartphone’s microphone and camera. The program is designed to bypass detection and mask its activity.

NSO’s methods are so sophisticated that researchers say they can now infect target devices without user intervention. This is the so-called “zero click” option.

The company does not disclose its customers and says it sells technology to Israeli-approved governments to target terrorists and help dismantle the pedophile circle and the sexual and drug trafficking circles. I am.

However, some of such monitoring targets have different views.

A study by the Global Media Consortium based on leaked targeting data suggested that NSO software was being used to spy on journalists, human rights activists, and political opponents.

Copyright 2021 AP communication. all rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.