UN-backed investigator on Yemen war targeted by Israel spyware 

A UN-backed human rights expert tasked with investigating war crimes committed in Yemen has had his mobile phone hacked by spyware made by Israeli firm NSO Group, a new forensic analysis has revealed, according to a report today by the Guardian.

Tunisian Kamel Jendoubi, who served as the head of the now-defunct Group of Eminent Experts in Yemen (GEE), which was mandated by the UN in 2017 was targeted by spyware in August 2019 says experts at Amnesty International and the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto.

Jendoubi was hacked weeks before his panel released a damning report that concluded the Saudi-led coalition had committed “serious violations of international humanitarian law” in Yemen that could lead to “criminal responsibility for war crimes”. The group’s report also noted that “There are no clean hands in Yemen” with war crimes having been committed by all parties in the conflict.

READ: Israel’s Pegasus spyware and its global consequences

The analysis suggests Jendoubi was being monitored by Saudi Arabia, a former client of NSO until the company ended its contracts with the kingdom following their involvement in the state-sanctioned murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Jendoubi’s mobile number was included in a leaked database consisting of numbers said to be potential surveillance targets of NSO’s clients, said Pegasus Project, the consortium of media outlets investigating the spyware.

In October the Human Rights Council rejected a resolution to renew the GEE’s mandate. A statement released by the group described it as “a major setback for all victims who have suffered serious violations during the armed conflict that has been raging for over six years in Yemen”.