Privacy International, a UK civil liberties group, has filed an official complaint with the National Crime Agency (NCA) over unlawful surveillance of Bahraini activists by Manama authorities on British soil, Press TV reports.

The spying allegedly took place with the FinFisher surveillance malware tool which was sold by the British company, Gamma International, to Bahrain. 

“We hope that offices of Gamma International, that members of the board will be brought to account for having sold this technology and provided active technical assistance to Bahrain. To assist Bahrain in repressing human rights activists who had to flee Bahrain and seek refuge here in the UK,” a Privacy International legal advisor, Adriana Edmeades, told the Press TV corresponded in London.

Mohammad Moosa Abd-Ali Ali, Saeed al-Shehabi and Jafar al-Hasabi, the Bahraini pro-democracy activists living in Britain, were allegedly targeted by the malware.

Shehabi, told the correspondent, “We are talking about the very serious development that our computers have been hacked. How much damage to us, to our reputation, how much information they got.”

According to the complaint, Bahraini authorities’ actions qualify as unlawful interception of communications and by selling this malware, Gama International becomes liable as an accessory.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of pro-democracy protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.

According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested.

On June 10, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) censured the Manama regime for human rights violations in the country. A total of 46 members of the international body expressed deep concern over the Al Khalifa regime’s crackdown on peaceful protesters.

SRK/MAM/AS