SHARE
COPY LINK

CRIME

Spain court backs Briton’s extradition over Biden hack

A Spanish court approved Friday the extradition to the United States of a British man suspected of hacking the Twitter accounts of leading public figures including presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Spain court backs Briton's extradition over Biden hack
The accounts of US President Joe Bide, former President Barack Obama, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla boss Elon Musk, who now owns Twitter, were all hit. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Police arrested Joseph James O’Connor in July 2021 in the southern city of Estepona which is home to a large number of Britons. He faces multiple charges in connection with the July 2020 hack of over 130 Twitter accounts, including those of then-Democratic presidential candidate Biden.

The accounts of former President Barack Obama, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and Tesla boss Elon Musk, who now owns Twitter, were also hit.

US officials allege O’Connor hijacked the celebrity accounts and then asked followers of them to send bitcoin to an account, promising to double their money.

Spain’s National Court said on Friday that he is also suspected of hacking the Snapchat account of a unnamed public figure and then threatening to publish naked pictures of him unless he was financially compensated.

It said the “necessary conditions” were met for Spain to agree to a US extradition request for the 23-year-old, who is also known by the alias “Plugwalk Joe”.

Spain’s cabinet still must approve it although usually complies with the court’s decisions.

O’Connor can also still appeal the extradition. He faces charges related to unauthorised computer access, extortion and cyberstalking.

His defence team had argued that he should be tried in Spain, the location of the computer servers which were allegedly used in the hacking.

A Florida teenager accused of masterminding the attack was sentenced by a US court in 2021 to three years in juvenile prison in a plea agreement.

Graham Ivan Clark was just 17 when he was charged and his case was transferred to a Florida state court because of his juvenile status.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

CRIME

Spain investigates letters ordering companies to not hire foreigners

For five years, numerous companies in Spain's northern Navarre region have been receiving e-mails urging them to not hire foreign workers and threatening them with boycotts if not, correspondence that's now being investigated as a hate crime.

Spain investigates letters ordering companies to not hire foreigners

The email address  from which they were sent was always the same, the wording very similar. As far as authorities know, they continued for at least five years between 2017 and 2023.

A court in Pamplona has now taken the matter on and is investigating these e-mails as a possible hate crime.

Some of these e-mails were sent to the director of a residence in Estella/Lizarra in 2020. He received up to 10 of these from the same sender urging him to “nationalise his workforce”.

He publicly denounced the e-mail and released it. The text read: “In the face of possible economic reactivation after the current pandemic, we encourage you to nationalise your workforce; that is, to replace immigrants (including those who are naturalised) with nationals or, if you were to increase the workforce, to hire only nationals. Internally or externally (clients, neighbours, suppliers, etc.) we already know which companies have too many foreigners, and with that information, lists of companies have been made according to sectors so that people know who they employ with their money. Contracting is free, but so is consumption. This is politically incorrect, but not at all illegal. It is simply necessary”.

Many other companies received similar emails around the same time.

In the summer of 2023 the case reached the Racism and Xenophobia Assistance Service (SARX), which decided to carry out an investigation and finally passed it on to the Prosecutor’s Office.

Now, the first Investigative Court of Pamplona is investigating the size and scale of this situation to see how many companies the letters have actually reached.

Johanna Flores, lawyer and coordinator of the Racism and Xenophobia Assistance Service, has emphasised the importance of these e-mails being investigated as a possible crime: “It is very positive because when there is a person who wants to systematically send emails of this kind, they will think twice, since they know that it could have a criminal nature”.

Almost half of all new workers in Navarra in the last year are foreigners, according to 2024 social security figures.

Spain’s National Security Council warned the government about a rise in xenophobia and racist hate crimes back in 2019. There have also been numerous counts of racial discrimination towards prospective tenants and home-buyers. 

In 2023 Real Madrid star Vinicius was racially abused in Spain’s top flight football league. Writing on Instagram, Vinicius said Spain was viewed as “a country of racists” in his homeland.

READ ALSO: The racism problem that has blighted Spanish football

This type of racial abuse is not new in Spanish football.. In 2004, thousands of Spanish fans shouted racial insults at black players during an England-Spain match at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in Madrid. This prompted outrage in the UK and threatened to escalate into a diplomatic row, with both prime ministers at the time – Tony Blair and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero – condemning the actions.

Alba García Martín, a member of the anti-racism NGO SOS Racismo has explained: “The immigration law is racist to its core. It does not allow you to regularise your migration status for three years, it pushes immigrants to employment off-the-books and does not provide you any kind of rights as a citizen. All the other racial issues derive from this law. There is no anti-racist legislation, for example, for crimes related to racism. There are no anti-racist laws,” she adds. 

READ MORE: Spain to debate blanket legalisation of its 500,000 undocumented migrants

It’s hoped that if these e-mails are found to be a hate crime, it will set a precedent and stop others from considering these types of attacks in the future.

READ ALSO: ‘Homologación’ – How Spain is ruining the careers of thousands of qualified foreigners

SHOW COMMENTS