The scandal of Pegasus hacking software in the phones of leading politicians in Spain is intensifying.
The software targeted the phones of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, two other ministers and 18 separatist leaders in the region of Catalonia.
This controversial software has been used to access the phones of many important personalities around the world.
But Prime Minister Sanchez is the first leader to be confirmed as a target.
Defense Minister Margareta Rubles, herself a victim of phone hacking, said the government had decided to remove the head of the intelligence agency CNI, which had been serving for 40 years.
"You're asking me to remove it, I'm going to change it," he told reporters.
Paz Esteban has been head of the CNI since 2019 and will be replaced by Deputy Defense Minister Esperanza Castilero.
How did the scandal affect Spanish politics?
Catalonia's more than 60 separatist leaders last month accused Spain of monitoring their phones, following which the Citizen Lab Research Center in Canada made the revelations.
Following the allegations, the pro-independence party ERC withdrew its support for the Socialist-majority government.
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| The new intelligence chief is Esperanza Castilero |
It was later revealed that the phones of Prime Minister, Defense Minister and Interior Minister Fernando Grande Marleska had also been spied on.
Prime Minister Sanchez's phone was hacked twice in May 2021, and officials say it has leaked data at least once.
The government says the operation was "illegal and external" and involved non-governmental groups without the consent of the state.
However, he declined to comment on reports in the Spanish media that Morocco may have been behind the hacking, which took place during a diplomatic dispute.
Last week, Defense Minister Margareta Rubles told a parliamentary commission that the intelligence agency had always acted in accordance with the law and that 18 Catalonian separatists had been spied on with the permission of the court.
Among those targeted was Catalan President Pierre Aragonese.
Ms Rubles told a news conference on Tuesday that mistakes had been made, but she defended CNI's international reputation.
"No one in this country is being interrogated because of their political views," he said.
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| Phones of both Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Defense Minister Margareta Rubles were spied on. |
Critics say Paz Esteban has been sacrificed so that pro-independence parties do not give up their support for the left-wing government.
"This is a real humiliation for our country.
What is Pegasus software?
This spy software called Pegasus was developed by the Israeli company NSO Group and it can hack iPhones and Android phones.
Data can then be retrieved from these phones while calls can also be recorded by secretly activating their cameras and microphones.
The NSO says Pegasus was created for use against criminals and terrorists and is only available to countries with good human rights records.
Now big companies like Apple and Microsoft are suing him.
In addition, the European Parliament is investigating allegations of violations of EU law. Hungarian journalists have accused their government of using the software to target them, and the Polish government has admitted to using it for surveillance, but says it was not used for political purposes.
Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Azerbaijan have also been hit by alleged espionage scandals.
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