Polish mayor targeted by Pegasus spyware-media

WARSAW, (Reuters). Gazeta Wiborcza daily reported that a Polish opposition-linked mayor was hacked using Pegasus spyware. This is in the midst of claims that the technology was used by the special forces to attack government critics.

According to The Associated Press, reports from 2021 that NSO Group in Israel had hack the phones of critics of the government including a senator representing a major opposition party have led some to accuse security forces that they are erasing democratic norms.

Gazeta Wyborcza, a liberal daily, is critical of the ruling nationists Law and Justice. (PiS), reported that Jacek Knowski was Sopot’s mayor in the Baltic Seaside Resort. He was part of the opposition’s campaign for the election to the Senate, which is the upper house of parliament.

It claimed that the number was on a list it had accessed as part of its investigative journalism initiative, The Pegasus project.

In a statement to Reuters, Karnowski stated that “we will not allow the PiS Machine to further destroy democracy and lead Poland to East” “The politicians who commissioned and inspired these activities should be in prison.”

We were unable immediately to reach the spokesperson for either the Polish government nor the Polish security services.

Senior PiS officials confirmed that the government had purchased sophisticated spyware, but denied that it was used against political opposition.

International pressure has been applied to Israel for claiming that Pegasus was used in spying by foreign client countries on journalists and human right activists.

NSO stated that they cannot confirm or deny the existence potential customers for Pegasus. It stated that the system it used to sell to government customers is no longer in operation and that it does not participate in its operation.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish; Editing by Toby Chopra