The Italian government has approved the use of spyware on the members of the NGO of refugees, he told parliamentarians | Italy

The Italian government has approved the use of a sophisticated surveillance tool to spy on the members of a humanitarian NGO because presumably have been considered a possible threat to national security, they felt the parliamentarians.

Alfredo Mantovano, a Undersecretary of the Cabinet, made the admission during a meeting placed with Copasir, the Parliamentary Committee for national security, according to a person who is familiar with the situation.

Copasir is investigating whether the secret services have violated the law in the use of graphite spyware, of a military level created by the paragon solutions based in Israel, to monitor activists and journalists and expects to report on its discovery soon.

Giorgia Meloni’s government has been under pressure to face the case since January, when a handful of Italian activists and a journalist received warnings from WhatsApp, the messaging app owned by Meta, that their phones had been targeted by Spyware.

Initially the government denied involvement, but Mantuan, who supervises the intelligence services, told the committee that the spyware had targeted Luca Casarini and Giuseppe Caccia, the founders of Mediterranean who saved human beings, an NGO who tries to protect the refugees who cross the Mediterranean.

He said that the spyware was approved by the government and the attorney general of the Court of Appeal of Rome and that the intelligence agencies used the surveillance system within the parameters of the law in order to conduct a “preventive” investigation on illegal immigration. He denied that the spyware was Used to Target Francesco CancellatoThe editor -in -chief of the Italian fanpage of news.

Mantuan’s statements, which were reported for the first time by The RepublicSo far they have not been denied by the government.

Comparison his report suspended With Italy when violations emerged, a person who is familiar with the question told the Guardian. The company’s spyware is intended for use on criminals.

Human beings who save Mediterranean have declared that they had been informed about the statements of Mantuan by the journalist sources, adding in a declaration that the “secret operation worthy of a regime” had been “unmasked in the world”.

In addition to the Copasir investigation, public ministries in five cities, including Rome, Palermo, Naples, Bologna and Venice, are investigating the statements after the complaints have been presented by the objectives of the alleged violation of the spyware, which include Mattia Ferrari, and David Yambio, humanitarian activator, who worked with Mediterraa, who worked with Mediterraa.

“Five public ministries are investigating and we trust that someone will have the courage to arrive at the bottom and demonstrate, as it is clear, that this is an abuse of power and nothing else,” added the Mediterranean who saves humans.