© Andreu Dalmau/EPA
Roger Torrent denounced his targeting as ‘wrong, worrying and profoundly undemocratic’
Roger Torrent tells
Guardian suspected targeting of his phone using spyware is proof of 'dirty war'
The senior Catalan pro-independence politician who was targeted using spyware has claimed its use is further proof of the Spanish state's "dirty war" against its opponents and says the revelations will have an inevitable impact on attempts to find a political solution to the ongoing territorial dispute.
In a joint interview with the
Guardian and
El País, Roger Torrent, the speaker of the Catalan parliament and a regional MP for the Catalan Republican Left party, denounced his targeting as wrong, worrying and profoundly undemocratic.
He said evidence by researchers at Citizen Lab that pointed to Pegasus hacking software sold by the Israeli NSO Group being used against him and others
confirmed long-held suspicions that the regional independence movement was being spied on by the Spanish state.
"[It] corroborates and confirms the fears or ideas that we pro-independence campaigners had about the state being prepared to use all the mechanisms at its disposal to go after a legitimate political project," claimed Torrent.
Comment: Beijing has vowed to retaliate unless the US changes course. Trump is not the type to back down, especially once he signs an order.