New Delhi, July 19 (TIWN) Former Delhi University Professor S.A.R. Geelani's phone number, selected as a target for hacking by an unidentified India-based agency that was a client of Israel's NSO Group, was infected between 2017 and 2019, according to the results of an independent digital forensics study conducted on his phone in the last month, The Wire reported.

The Wire, in collaboration with Amnesty International's Security Lab, carried out a forensic analysis of Geelani's phone, an iPhone still preserved by his family, and can confirm that the phone was compromised on and off for over two years.  Geelani's phone was infected with Pegasus spyware -- the Tel Aviv-based firm's flagship product, which allows operators of the tool to gain unauthorised access to a user's mobile device and functions.  Geelani, who used to teach Arabic at Delhi University's Zakir Hussain College, was arrested in connection with the Parliament attack case but was later acquitted for "want of evidence" by the Delhi high court in October 2003, a decision later upheld by the Supreme Court in August 2005.