This week, reports in the Italian and international press, including Italilan daily La Repubblica and British newspaper The Guardian suggest that Italian Undersecretary of State, Alfredo Mantovano, admitted to spying on the migrant rescue NGO Mediterranea Saving Humans, while giving evidence to a national parliamentary security committee COPASIR, which is investigating the allegations.

"He was caught red-handed," Mediterranea Saving Humans said in a press release about the issue. Mantovano is responsible within the government for overseeing intelligence agencies.

"We found out from journalistic sources that, finally, Undersecretary Alfredo Mantovano has admitted that Mediterranea and its activists were spied on by the secret services using the military software Paragon Graphite as they were considered a 'danger to national security'," continued the press release from Mediterranea Saving Humans, published on March 26.

The allegations were first printed in the Italian broadsheet La Repubblica earlier this week and referred to a hearing that took place on March 25. COPASIR, or the Parliamentary Committee for the Security of the Republic has been looking into allegations that the Italian government may have deployed spyware against certain activists working in the field of migration.

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Messages from Meta

The government had previously claimed that Italian intelligence services had used the software Paragon Graphite within the existing regulatory framework and that it had not spied on journalists.

The current investigations do not include that of Francesco Cancellato, the editor-in-chief of the Italian newspaper Fanpage, one of seven Italians informed by Meta that their smartphones had apparently been compromised.

According to unnamed sources, described as a person "familiar with the situation," Mantovano reportedly acknowledged during the hearing that the government had approved surveillance on some people but claimed that Cancellato was not among the targets.

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Italian intelligence interest in Libya

Italian secret services are permitted to engage in preventative wiretaps after receiving authorization from the prosecutor general of the Rome appeals court, Giuseppe Amato.

According to reports, the secret services were monitoring the communications of NGO representatives that had contact with Libyans.

Libya is one of the areas most closely watched by Italy's External Intelligence and Security Agency (AISE) due to its potential effects on national security, gas, oil, migration flows, and terrorism risks.

At the same time, the Palermo prosecutor's office put NGO staff members on the list of those under investigation as part of an inquiry into aiding and abetting clandestine immigration.

Communication from Meta on infected smartphones was reportedly sent to the Mediterranea Saving Humans mission chief Luca Casarini, shipowner Beppe Caccia, and Refugees in Libya activist David Yambio.

It later emerged that there was allegedly spyware also on the smartphone of ship chaplain, Father Mattia Ferrari.

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NGO's response and opposition attacks

Mediterranea Saving Humans has accused the Italian government of "legal but illegitimate activities targeting activists and political opponents," while "a criminal of the calibre of militia leader al-Masri, who was allowed to flee arrest and taken home on a state flight, is a 'national resource'. In order to authorise an activity of this sort without violating the constitution there needs to be well-founded reasons."

The statement from the NGO continued: "Five prosecutor's offices are investigating and we trust in the fact that someone will have the courage to get to the bottom of this and show, as is clear, that this is an abuse of power and nothing else."

The opposition has also gone on the offensive. In the eyes of the Greens and Left Alliance MP Angelo Bonelli, "the government has made political use of the Italian secret services, asking them to carry out spying activities using the Paragon spyware against those saving people in distress at sea, as part of seeking some sort of political theorem."

MEP from the Democratic Party Alessandro Zan called on the government to say "once and for all the entire truth. Explain to us why it ordered spying on an NGO saving lives at sea and who spied on Fanpage editor Francesco Cancellato. [Prime Minister Georgia] Meloni [should] explain the reason for the silence, which has become embarassing."

The prosecutor's offices of Palermo, Naples, Rome, Bologna, and Venice are conducting investigations, following reports filed by the Italians who believe they have been spied on.

In the meantime, COPASIR has begun looking into the issue as well and is expected to present a report to the Italian parliament of its findings in due course.