Red line crossed by use of spyware, says UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

Completely unacceptable, says Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission

The UN Human Rights High Commissioner has red flagged spyware like Pegasus and Candiru and said the “red line” was crossed by the . The comment from the official came in the backdrop of based in Delhi have had their phones tapped using the spyware. “Given the fact that Pegasus spyware, as well as that created by Candiru and others, enable extremely deep intrusions into people’s devices, resulting in insights into all aspects of their lives, their use can only ever be justified in the context of investigations into serious crimes and grave security threats. If the recent are even partly true, then that red line has been crossed again and again with total impunity,” said Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The UN official’s comments were echoed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen who termed the use of the spyware as “completely unacceptable”.