Washington – Amnesty International (AI), which filed a complaint seeking to prohibit the Israeli cybersecurity company “NSO Group” from exporting its technology abroad, has been dismissed for “lack of evidence” in the Omar Radi case, international media reported on Monday.
An Israeli judge in Tel Aviv District Court said in her ruling released on Monday that Amnesty’s attorneys did not provide sufficient evidence “to prove the claim that an attempt was made to track a human rights activist by trying to hack his cell phone,” according to AP and AFP news agencies as well as the US paper the New York Times.
“The Tel Aviv District Court ruled that Amnesty’s attorneys did not provide sufficient evidence,” the NYT reported.
According to AFP, the Israeli court ruled that the international NGO did not present sufficient evidence “to prove the claim that an attempt was made to track a human rights activist by trying to hack his cell phone”.
The NGO sought to revoke the company’s export license, arguing that its software was being used by various countries to spy on dissidents and activists. The Court stated that Amnesty had not presented sufficient evidence to prove that the spyware was used to target activists.
Morocco had denounced the “serious and tendentious accusations” made by AI against the Kingdom and “insisted on obtaining an official response from this Organization which claims to defend human rights: a response that includes all the material evidence it would have used to harm Morocco”.
After several days of waiting and prevarication, the response of AI’s interim Secretary General, Julie Verhaar, to the head of government, Saad Dine El Otmani, “has not provided the material evidence that the Moroccan government has repeatedly requested” from the Organization since the publication of its report, which contained unfounded accusations against Morocco and was accompanied by an international media campaign for defamation and condemnation.
This verdict by an Israeli court is yet another setback for AI, proving that its accusations against Morocco are unfounded.
(MAP)