LONDON — When the hyper-wealthy ruler of the Center Jap emirate of Dubai discovered himself embroiled in a British court docket case with the Jordanian princess who was as soon as his spouse, he did greater than rent top-shelf legal professionals.
He additionally deployed high-tech software program bought from an Israeli firm to hack the cellphones of his ex-wife, two of her legal professionals and three different associates, in accordance with court docket paperwork made public on Wednesday.
One of many legal professionals, Baroness Fiona Shackleton, is a sitting member of the Home of Lords — doubtlessly including friction to the shut relationship between the UK and the United Arab Emirates, which incorporates Dubai.
It seemed to be the primary confirmed case of the software program, referred to as Pegasus and offered by the Israel-based NSO Group, being efficiently used to hack the cellphone of a sitting British official, in accordance with Invoice Marczak, a researcher at The Citizen Lab on the College of Toronto’s Munk College of World Affairs, who examined the telephones talked about within the case and decided that they had been hacked.
NSO Group has come beneath intense scrutiny in latest months after stories that numerous governments have used its software program to focus on opponents.
The hacking, which got here to gentle within the civil swimsuit ruling in a London court docket, added a brand new wrinkle in an already difficult snarl of Arab royal household conflicts, diplomacy and the world of extremely secretive corporations that promote costly hacking applied sciences to governments all over the world, who can and do use them as they see match.
NSO Group says it sells its merchandise to governments to be used in regulation enforcement and counterterrorism. Know-how researchers have surfaced many different instances of such applied sciences being utilized by oppressive governments to not go after criminals, however to trace political dissidents, human rights activists and journalists.
In an emailed assertion, NSO Group mentioned: “At any time when a suspicion of a misuse arises, NSO investigates, NSO alerts, NSO terminates.”
The corporate mentioned it’s dedicated to human rights and cooperated with the court docket, despite the fact that it didn’t acknowledge the court docket’s jurisdiction.
An electronic mail looking for remark from the Dubai Media Workplace didn’t obtain a response.
The court docket case pitted the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, in opposition to his ex-wife, Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein, of Jordan, over the custody of their two youngsters after she fled with them to London in 2019.
Sheikh Mohammed has additionally been accused of holding two daughters from one other marriage — Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum and Sheikha Shamsa al-Maktoum — captive in Dubai after they tried to flee.
Sheikh Mohammed’s representatives have denied that the ladies are being held in opposition to their will.
Within the judgment within the British civil court docket case, which was handed down in Could however made public on Wednesday, a choose dominated that surveillance had been carried out by brokers of Sheikh Mohammed utilizing software program licensed to the Emirate of Dubai or the United Arab Emirates. Additionally subjected to “illegal surveillance” had been Princess Haya’s private assistant and two of her safety employees, the court docket mentioned.
The identical court docket had earlier dominated that Sheikh Mohammed had imprisoned his daughters with Princess Haya and threatened one other of his wives, although he’s unlikely to face authorized consequence.
Even earlier than fleeing to London, Princess Haya, who’s a daughter of Jordan’s earlier king, Hussein, was a widely known determine in British excessive society. She was educated at British personal faculties, represented Jordan as a present jumper on the 2000 Olympics and was reported to be pleasant with Queen Elizabeth II.
Along with Baroness Shackleton, one other of Princess Haya’s legal professionals, Nicholas Manners, was focused by the hacking. Princess Haya’s cellphone was discovered to have been hacked a variety of instances final yr with Sheikh Mohammed’s “categorical or implied authority,” the judgment mentioned.
Baroness Shackleton was tipped off to the hacking by Cherie Blair, the spouse of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who works as a humanitarian adviser to NSO, in accordance with the court docket paperwork.
Mrs. Blair was instructed that NSO had been knowledgeable that its software program “might have been misused to observe the cell phone of Baroness Shackleton and her consumer, Her Royal Highness Princess Haya,” the court docket mentioned.
Princess Haya’s flight to London in 2019 adopted makes an attempt by two daughters of Sheikh Mohammed from one other spouse, Sheikha Latifa and Sheikha Shamsa, to flee their father’s custody. Each had been finally captured, returned house and held in opposition to their will there, advocates for the ladies say, claims which have tarnished the repute of their highly effective father.
Princess Latifa’s whereabouts and circumstances stay unclear. Although she appeared in a video earlier this yr saying she was being held prisoner by her father, subsequent images appeared on social media that confirmed her in Iceland, on the Madrid airport and at a shopping center in Dubai. A cousin instructed the Free Latifa marketing campaign, a gaggle that had labored to publicize her case, that he had met her in Iceland.
But the princess has not spoken publicly herself, elevating doubts about whether or not she is appearing of her personal free will.
Vivian Yee contributed reporting from Cairo.
