Poland rejects accusations that it used Pegasus spying software for political ends after a top lawyer opposed to the current government says he was targeted.
“The suggestion that Polish services used operational methods for political ends is unjustified,” says Stanislaw Zaryn, spokesman for the ministry in charge of the secret services.
Roman Giertych, a lawyer involved in several cases against the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, claims that Poland was using the spyware “to fight the democratic opposition.”
“Using this type of program to fight the opposition completely eliminates the sense of democratic elections,” he says, explaining that the spyware was used ahead of the 2019 elections.
Ewa Wrzosek, a prosecutor and opposition figure, also says the spyware had been used against her. She had been alerted by Apple, she adds.
Citizen Lab, a cyber-security watchdog based in Canada, confirms it looked into the use of Pegasus against Giertych and Wrzosek.
“We conducted these investigations and provided confirmation to the two named individuals that they were repeatedly infected with Pegasus spyware,” John Scott Railton, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, tells AFP.
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
— Stav Levaton, military reporter
Yes, I'll join
Yes, I'll join
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, December 21, 2021
