For months, Father Stan Swamy, an 84-year-old Jesuit priest, claimed his innocence in courts and pleaded for medical care, but Indian authorities denied him bail. He died at a hospital in July 2021 after spending more than eight months in jail on terrorism charges.
Now, an examination of an electronic copy of his computer by Arsenal Consulting, a Massachusetts-based digital forensics firm, concludes that a hacker infiltrated his device and planted evidence, according to a new report by the company. The analysis is more proof that Swamy and his co-defendants were framed in a case that exemplifies the Indian government’s crack-down against civil society and prominent critics, the defense team says.
More than a dozen activists, academics and lawyers have been imprisoned under an anti-terrorism law — some for more than four years — accused of having ties to a banned Maoist armed group that aims to overthrow the government. They deny the charges. The stringent terrorism law has drawn criticism in part because the accused can rarely secure bail and cases brought under the law have a poor conviction rate.
They were accused of plotting to overthrow the Modi government. The evidence was planted, a new report says.
In 2021, The Washington Post reported that devices of at least two defendants in the case had been compromised by hackers who deposited dozens of incriminating documents in the devices. This malware campaign targeted individuals beyond those facing charges in the case.
Separately, the Pegasus Project investigation by The Post and 16 other news organizations revealed that some of the defendants were included on a list of surveillance targets for spyware supplied by the Israeli firm NSO Group to governments or their agencies. The Indian government has neither confirmed nor denied that it is an NSO client. In June, Wired reported links between the hacking campaign and Indian police, who did not respond to the report.