LONDON (AP) – The ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, hacked the cellphone of his ex-wife of Princess Haya and his lawyer during a legal battle for the detention of their two children, the British High Court found Wednesday.
Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the Vice President and the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, gave “express or implied authorities” to hack the princess’s cellphone and his lawyers using Pegasus Spyware produced by the Israeli NSO group, the court said. This software is licensed exclusively to nation countries to be used by their security services.
NSO has been in the alleged center that the government abuses electronic surveillance technology to spy on political opponents, human rights activists and journalists.
Princess Haya’s cellphone hacking was revealed partially through William Marczak’s work, a colleague in the resident lab, watchdog cybersecurity at the University of Toronto. In addition, NSO Cherie Blair adviser, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, contacted one of the female lawyers to tell her that the company suspected the software had been “misused” to hacked the phone.
This case highlights the dangers posed by companies that are not regulated to sell supervision technology for “some of the most repressive governments in the world,” Marzcak told Associated Press.
“If the situation is not addressed by the government, by technology companies and by other institutions, we can live in a world where this kind of thing is targeted not only to dissidents and journalists and ex-world homists, but maybe ordinary people might be targeted or can be susceptible to this kind of supervision, “he said. “I think it’s important to overcome this now before it becomes a bigger problem.”
Wednesday’s decision was the latest episode in a long-lasting battle that runs between Sheikh Mohammed, 72, and his alienated wife. Princess Haya, 47, drifted to England with his children in April 2019, saying that he became afraid of the threat and intimidation of her husband.
The verdict was important because Judge Andrew McFarlane insisted throughout the case that Sheikh Mohammed needed to build trust with the court that he would not take unilateral action to eliminate children from their mother’s care.
“The findings made in this assessment proved that he had behaved in a way that would be the opposite of building trust,” McFarlane said in the verdict. “This finding represents misuse of total trust, and indeed abuse of power, to some extent.”
The previous judge decided that Sheikh Mohammed conducted a campaign of fear and intimidating against his alienated wife and ordered the kidnapping of his two daughters.