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        {"code":"26712","sect":"El Salvador","sect_slug":"el-salvador","hits":"1261","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/en\/202302\/el_salvador\/26712","link_edit":"","name":"Apple Warned Salvadoran Supreme Court Judge of Possible Pegasus Infection","slug":"apple-warned-salvadoran-supreme-court-judge-of-possible-pegasus-infection","info":"A Salvadoran Supreme Court justice informed the high court that Apple notified her in December of her possible targeting with Pegasus, a spyware sold to governments to hack the cellphones of journalists, activists, and opposition members.","mtag":"Transparency","noun":{"html":"\u003Cspan class='tint-text--dark' data_href='\/user\/profile\/glabrador'\u003E Gabriel Labrador\u003C\/span\u003E","data":{"gabriel-labrador":{"sort":"glabrador","slug":"gabriel-labrador","path":"gabriel_labrador","name":"Gabriel Labrador","edge":"0","init":"0"}}},"view":"1261","pict":{"cms-image-000038600-jpeg":{"feat":"1","sort":"38600","name":"cms-image-000038600.jpeg","link":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038600.jpeg","path":"https:\/\/elfaro.net\/images\/cms-image-000038600.jpeg","back":"","slug":"cms-image-000038600-jpeg","text":"&lt;p&gt;Paula Patricia Vel\u00e1squez Centeno, magistrada de la Sala de lo Contencioso Administratuvo, de la Corte Suprema de Justicia. Foto de El Faro: Archivo.\u00a0&lt;\/p&gt;","capt":"\u003Cp\u003EPaula Patricia Vel\u00e1squez Centeno, magistrada de la Sala de lo Contencioso Administratuvo, de la Corte Suprema de Justicia. Foto de El Faro: Archivo.\u00a0\u003C\/p\u003E"}},"pict_main__sort":38600,"date":{"live":"2023\/02\/09"},"data_post_dateLive_YY":"2023","data_post_dateLive_MM":"02","data_post_dateLive_DD":"09","text":"\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\"\/es\/202302\/el_salvador\/26707\/Apple-advierte-a-magistrada-de-la-Corte-Suprema-de-posible-espionaje-con-Pegasus.htm?ref=home\"\u003ELeer en espa\u00f1ol\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003ESupreme Court Magistrate Paula Patricia Vel\u00e1squez is the first member of the Salvadoran judiciary to assert that her cellphone was surveilled with the Pegasus spyware developed by the Israel-based firm NSO Group. Digital experts have corroborated that dozens of \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/citizenlab.ca\/2022\/01\/project-torogoz-extensive-hacking-media-civil-society-el-salvador-pegasus-spyware\/\"\u003Ejournalists, human rights advocates, and civil society leaders\u003C\/a\u003E in El Salvador have been targeted with Pegasus, a software purportedly sold exclusively to governments and law enforcement agencies that grants operators unfettered access to targeted devices.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u201cJustice Vel\u00e1squez explained she was subjected to espionage through a spyware called \u2018Pegasus\u2019 and that the company Apple Inc. notified her that she is probably being targeted because of the function she serves,\u201d wrote the Supreme Court in a document obtained by El Faro. The outlet also reviewed an email that Vel\u00e1squez received from Apple on December 15, warning that her account may have been breached: \u201cApple believes that state-sponsored attackers are trying to access the iPhone associated with your Apple ID.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EMagistrate Vel\u00e1squez, appointed to a nine-year term from 2015 to 2024, is one of the only five members of the Supreme Court who kept their position when Bukele\u2019s party legislators replaced the other 10 in May 2021, \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202105\/el_salvador\/25452\/New-Legislative-Assembly-Ousts-Supreme-Court-Magistrates-and-Attorney-General.htm\"\u003Eillegally removing the five members of the Constitutional Chamber\u003C\/a\u003E. Vel\u00e1squez is a career judge who previously worked as assistant attorney general from 2013 to 2015. She did not return messages from El Faro nor calls to her office.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThis is not the only case of a public official under possible espionage. An official from an institution in the Ministry of Security and Justice confirmed to El Faro that he also received an email threat notification but asked to conceal his identity. William Soriano and Alexia Rivas, legislators from the ruling party Nuevas Ideas, also \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/www.elsalvador.com\/noticias\/nacional\/corrupcion-politica-espionaje-industrial\/903947\/2021\/\"\u003Esaid they received Apple\u2019s alerts\u003C\/a\u003E, but claimed they weren\u2019t concerned.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EIn November 2021, \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202111\/el_salvador\/25862\/Apple-Warns-Journalists-of-State-Surveillance-in-El-Salvador.htm\"\u003Emore than a dozen El Faro employees received\u003C\/a\u003E similar threat notifications from Apple. A subsequent analysis by digital rights groups Citizen Lab and Access Now found that \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202201\/el_salvador\/25936\/22-Members-of-El-Faro-Bugged-with-Spyware-Pegasus.htm\"\u003Eat least 35 individuals in El Salvador\u003C\/a\u003E \u201422 of them in El Faro\u2014 had indeed been targeted. In December, 18 members of El Faro \u003Ca href=\"\/en\/202211\/el_salvador\/26559\/15-Members-of-El-Faro-Sue-NSO-in-US-Federal-Court-for-Pegasus-Hacks.htm\"\u003Esued the developer of Pegasus in California court\u003C\/a\u003E, asking for an injunction on its use in El Salvador and an order for the company to destroy information stolen from the targeted devices and reveal its client.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EVel\u00e1squez informed the Administrative Chamber, where she is assigned, amid its deliberations in a case relating to the alleged purchase of Pegasus. In February 2022, human rights organization Cristosal asked the Court of Audits to investigate the use of public funds to acquire the spyware. When the Court refused, Cristosal \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/cristosal.org\/cristosal-apela-a-corte-de-cuentas-la-negativa-a-investigar-posible-compra-de-sofware-pegasus-con-fondos-publicos-21-de-marzo-2022\/\"\u003Efiled multiple appeals\u003C\/a\u003E: first, to the Court of Audits last March, and next, in October, to the Second Administrative Court. Both petitions were rebuffed, so Cristosal escalated to the Supreme Court\u2019s Administrative Chamber on October 31.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe court learned of the alleged attack in December, days after Vel\u00e1squez received the email. In the Supreme Court document obtained by El Faro, the magistrate cited the Apple notification in recusing herself from the case, in which she could have ruled on the Salvadoran government\u2019s alleged acquisition. The court document provides no additional details about the espionage beyond citing her recusal request.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe Chamber is still deliberating on whether the Court of Audits has the legal obligation to investigate whether the Salvadoran Government purchased Pegasus, but decided on January 27 not to remove Vel\u00e1squez from the case. The other three justices said there was no connection between her assertion that she was targeted and Cristosal\u2019s petitions. \u201cThe object of the process is not to determine the existence of the Pegasus spyware,\u201d the court wrote. Therefore, \u201cthe cause for [Vel\u00e1squez\u2019] abstention is not reasonable.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003EThe documented Pegasus attacks in El Salvador have added to a \u003Ca href=\"https:\/\/forbiddenstories.org\/about-the-pegasus-project\/\"\u003Egrowing body of global evidence\u003C\/a\u003E that the software has been used by authoritarian governments to illegally spy on opposition figures, activists, and journalists.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cbr\/\u003E\u003Cp style=\"text-align: right;\" dir=\"ltr\"\u003E\u003Cem\u003E*Sergio Arauz contributed reporting.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E"}

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