Proceedings in Spain, Israel, France, the UK and Thailand

analysisIn May 2022 Gonzalo Boye, a lawyer for Catalan politicians whom the European Parliament inquiry report describes as a Pegasus target, brought a case in Madrid on behalf of at least 19 targets against NSO, its three founders Niv Karmi, Shalev Hulio and Omri Lavie, Q Cyber Technologies and OSY, which the European Parliament inquiry report describes as a subsidiary based in Luxembourg; a research group's litigation tracker lists the defendants as NSO, Q Cyber Technologies, a subsidiary in Luxembourg, OSY and senior officers of these businesses. The sources do not say whether the Israeli Q Cyber Technologies Ltd or the Luxembourg Q Cyber Technologies S.à r.l. was named, and no outcome is recorded in the retained documents. Q Cyber Technologies Ltd's own proceedings in Israel, its withholding-tax appeal and the 2025 suit over control of the group, are described on the tax-appeal and fund-dispute pages. ^{1 2}

analysisLuxembourg press reported in April 2026 that in March 2025 a court in Barcelona placed three NSO executives, Shalev Hulio, Omri Lavie and Yuval Somekh, under investigation in the "Catalangate" case for their roles in the Luxembourg companies OSY Technologies and Q Cyber Technologies Luxembourg, the first such step against NSO executives in Europe, and asked Luxembourg for cooperation through a European Investigation Order. Being placed under investigation is not a charge or a finding, and no later stage is recorded in the retained documents. ³

analysisSpain's High Court opened its own investigation after the Spanish government stated that Pegasus had been used against ministers including Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, and in June 2022 called NSO Group's chief executive to testify as a witness, not as a suspect. According to the litigation tracker, which links to the underlying reports while the filings themselves were not retained, the investigation was shelved in July 2023, the judicial authorities citing Israel's lack of cooperation, and was reportedly reopened in 2024. The tracker also reports that in 2025 the association Sentinel Alliance filed a case in Barcelona against Spain's intelligence centre, the Civil Guard, NSO Group and Candiru; no outcome of that case is recorded. ^{1 2}

analysisAccording to the tracker, Omar Abdulaziz sued NSO Group in Israel in 2018, alleging that it helped the Saudi royal court take over his smartphone and spy on his communications with the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi; the allegation is his. NSO Group said its products were licensed only to governments and law enforcement agencies to fight terrorism and crime lawfully, after full vetting and licensing by the Israeli government, and that it investigates suspected misuse and may suspend or terminate contracts. In 2020 an Israeli judge rejected NSO's motion to dismiss and its request to hold the trial in secret and ordered it to pay Abdulaziz's legal costs; NSO said it would appeal. The tracker dates the ruling to June 2020, but the press report it links to is dated 16 January 2020, and the suit's final outcome is not recorded. ¹

qualification

The Abdulaziz suit is known from a litigation tracker kept by an academic research group, which links to press reports of the case; the court filings were not retained.

analysisIn Administrative Appeal 28312-05-19, 30 petitioners represented by the attorney Eitay Mack and supported by Amnesty International asked the Tel Aviv-Jaffa District Court to order Israel's Defence Export Controls Agency to revoke NSO Group Technologies' export licence, which they said had been used against Amnesty International activists; the case was heard under a gag order, according to a 2021 NGO report. On 12 July 2020 Judge Rachel Barkai rejected the petition, finding no sufficient evidentiary basis that an attempted hacking of a human rights activist's phone had occurred or had been carried out by NSO, declining to say whether NSO held a licence, finding that the agency reviewed licences meticulously and monitored holders closely, and making no order for costs. ^{2 3}

analysisIn July 2018 the Israeli Justice Ministry said a former NSO Group employee had been charged with stealing intellectual property and trying to sell it for $50 million over the Darknet in a manner that could harm state security; the ministry said the former employee's actions "endangered NSO and could have led to its collapse". ¹

qualification

The charge is known from the same tracker's summary of a Justice Ministry statement; the indictment was not retained.

analysisIn France, complaints have been filed against NSO Group by the Gulf Center for Human Rights in July 2021 and by the International Federation for Human Rights, the Ligue des droits de l'homme and the human rights defender Salah Hammouri. The Paris prosecutor also opened an investigation into Pegasus on 20 July 2021 after complaints by the news site Mediapart and two of its reporters that Morocco had spied on them, and 17 more journalists later complained to the prosecutor. No outcome of the French complaints or of the investigation is recorded. ¹

qualification

The French complaints and investigation are known from the tracker's links to press and NGO announcements; the filings themselves were not retained.

analysisThe tracker also records a civil suit against NSO Group filed in a Thai court in 2022 with the support of the Thai legal group iLaw, and letters before claim sent on 6 December 2022 to the Bahraini embassy in London and to NSO Group on behalf of the activist Yusuf al-Jamri. A letter before claim precedes a lawsuit and is not itself a proceeding. ¹

qualification

The Thai suit and the letters before claim are known from the tracker, which links to the groups' own announcements; the filings themselves were not retained.

analysisAccording to the tracker, in September 2024 four individuals filed a criminal complaint in the United Kingdom accusing three companies of violating UK laws: NSO Group, its parent company the Luxembourg-based Q Cyber Technologies, and Novalpina Capital. The tracker calls the Luxembourg company NSO's parent, whereas register records show the Israeli Q Cyber Technologies Ltd as NSO's shareholder; no outcome is recorded. ¹

qualification

The UK complaint is known only from the academic research group's litigation tracker, which links to a press report; the complaint itself was not retained.