"Open letter to Novalpina Capital, CC: NSO Group, Francisco Partners", 18 Feb 2019

We...release this open letter to Novalpina Capital regarding the recent announcementof the buyout of NSO Group from Francisco Partners. We call on Novalpina Capital to publicly address our serious concerns regarding accountability for NSO Group’s involvement in previously documented spyware abuses, Novalpina Capital’s current approach to addressing human rights impacts associated with NSO Group’s products and services, and the future trajectory of the company. Research has documented the use of NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware to target a wide swath of civil society, including at least 24 human rights defenders, journalists and parliamentarians in Mexico, an Amnesty International employee, Omar Abdulaziz, Yahya Assiri, Ghanem Al-Masarir, award-winning human rights campaigner Ahmed Mansoor, and allegedly, the targeting of Jamal Khashoggi. These individuals and organizations appear to have been targeted solely as a result of their criticism of governments that utilized the spyware or because of their work bearing on human rights issues of political sensitivity to those governments. Thus, this targeting is in violation of internationally recognized human rights. [W]e call on Novalpina Capital to: Confirm an immediate end to the sale or further maintenance of NSO Group products and services to governments that have been accused of intentionally infringing human rights through communications surveillance...[Refers to Black Cube].