Tel Aviv District Court judge Rachel Barkai has rejected a petition submitted by Amnesty International that would have blocked Israel firm NSO Group from selling its cyberware technology to foreign clients, The Guardian reports.
According to The Guardian, NSO produces phone-hacking software named Pegasus, and Amnesty's lawyers claim that it has been used by dictatorial regimes to target rights activists and journalists.
Judge Barkai rejected the claims, writing that Amnesty had failed to provide sufficient evidence to “substantiate the claim that an attempt was made to monitor a human rights activist.”
She added that she was satisfied that the Israeli Defense Ministry was “thorough and meticulous” in granting export licences with “particularly high sensitivity to the issue of human rights violations.”
Amnesty Israel, the organization's local branch, described the verdict as “shameful” and "disgraceful ... a cruel blow to people put at risk around the world by NSO Group selling its products to notorious human rights abusers.”