By Thai Newsroom Reporters
THE INTERNAL SECURITY Operations Command today (July 18) categorically denied the army-led agency had used a Pegasus spyware to illegally access data in civilians’ smartphones.
ISOC spokesperson Maj. Gen. Winthai Suwari dismissed allegations recently lodged by the human-rights activist group iLaw that the ISOC had used the Israeli-made spyware to hack on the smartphones of about 35 people including activists, academics and politicians since the last few years.
Maj. Gen. Winthai said the ISOC has invariably regarded the freedom of individuals and never practically breached it by doing as accused by the iLaw.
His comments apparently followed the latest petition filed by the activist group to the House Committee on National Security, Thai Border Affairs, National Strategies & Reforms alleging the ISOC of illegally accessing the data stored in those people’s smartphones via the Pegasus spyware developed by NSO Group Technologies of Israel.
House Committee Chair/Move Forward MP Rangsiman Rome confirmed that representatives of relevant government agencies will be summoned sooner than later for testimony before his panel on the iLaw-lodged complaint over the alleged violation of the individual freedom and privacy by the army-led agency.
The allegations primarily involved peaceful activities of human rights activists and politicians, among others, in the southernmost provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani where the ISOC had carried out missions to purportedly alleviate chronic, insurgent-triggered unrests.
CAPTIONS:
Top: A representative image of Pegasus spyware. Photo: Thai Rath
Insert: ISOC spokesperson Maj. Gen. Winthai Suwari. Photo: Thai Rath
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