Thai court dismisses activist’s suit against Israeli spyware producer over lack of evidence

BANGKOK — A Thai court on Thursday threw out a lawsuit brought by a pro-democracy activist which alleged spyware produced by an Israeli tech firm had been used to hack his phone.

The Civil Court in Bangkok said Jatupat Boonpattararaksa had failed to show sufficient proof that his phone was infected with Pegasus spyware produced by NSO Group Technologies.

Jataput, also known as Pai Dao Din, had alleged that the NSO Group had violated his and other activists’ constitutional rights by facilitating the use of Pegasus to allegedly target them and extract data from their devices.

He had claimed his phone was infected on three occasions in 2021, at a time of large-scale protests against the government that included unprecedented demands for reform of Thailand’s powerful but opaque monarchy.

NSO Group did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

An investigation last year by Thai civil society group iLaw, Thai internet freedom organization DigitalReach and Canadian internet watchdog group Citizen Lab found that 35 individuals in Thailand were targeted by government surveillance using Pegasus, in 2020 and 2021. The victims were predominantly activists and scholars.

Other activists alleged that Thai government agencies were behind the use of Pegasus, but officials have not commented directly on it. When pressed by the opposition in Parliament in 2022, the government acknowledged that state agencies had used Pegasus for activities related to “security or narcotics.”

Speaking outside the court, Jatupat, who had been a leader of street protests in 2021, said he had brought the suit to fight for people’s rights and freedoms.

“We fought for this because we wanted to prove whom the law will protect,” he said. “It is obvious today that the court chose to protect state security.”

Sutawan Chanprasert, from DigitalReach, called the ruling “disappointing.”

“I think there’s a lesson learned,” she said. “I think the reason the court gave will help us to prepare better for the future cases.”

Amnesty International, which had filed a brief in support of Jataput’s suit and has investigated the use of Pegasus spyware around the world, called the ruling “deeply alarming”

“However it won’t deter the fight against the unlawful use of spyware and the fight for justice for the victims of spyware in Thailand and around the world,” the rights group said in a statement.

NSO Group has previously said it only develops the spyware and does not control its use. Its products, including the Pegasus software, are typically licensed to government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to investigate terrorism and serious crime, according to the company’s website.