The Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) has bought the controversial Israeli spy software Pegasus.

This was confirmed at a meeting of the Interior Committee in the Bundestag, it said on Tuesday from parliamentary circles.

The German Association of Journalists and Amnesty International expressed massive criticism.

The BKA is said to have procured the software from the NSO Group at the end of 2019 - this was reported on Tuesday by “Zeit Online”, “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, NDR and WDR, citing joint research.

The procurement was made despite the concerns of lawyers in the authority and in the Federal Ministry of the Interior.

From parliamentary circles it was said on Tuesday that there was now confirmation that the controversial software had also been used "in a few cases" by the BKA.

However, it is still unclear whether the software was also used by intelligence services.

"A particularly powerful spying tool"

With Pegasus all data can be read out from cell phones attacked with it.

The software is also able to switch on the device's camera and microphone unnoticed.

German law only allows such monitoring within narrow limits, which is why, according to the report, a Pegasus version that does not contain all functions is said to have been purchased.

However, it is unclear how it was ensured that the other functions remain switched off.

The Green MP Konstantin von Notz spoke of a "nightmare for the rule of law".

He demanded "full clarification" from the federal government.

It must be clarified who "is specifically responsible for the purchase and use of the espionage software".

"We want to know whether journalists have been spied on without their knowledge, whether their sources are still safe," said the federal chairman of the German Association of Journalists, Frank Überall.

He called the unauthorized procedure of the BKA "incomprehensible".

Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) now has to "put the cards on the table".

"The NSO Group's Pegasus surveillance software is a particularly powerful spying tool," said Amnesty International.

“The Federal Constitutional Court has set strict limits on the use of state Trojans.” The organization called for “urgent rules for public procurement that oblige state agencies to also take into account the human rights record of companies when making purchases”.

In July, research by an international journalist consortium revealed the extensive misuse of the software. Hundreds of journalists, activists and opposition figures around the world have apparently been victims of wiretapping. Secret services and police authorities in several countries are said to have used the Pegasus software offered by NSO to tap into the mobile phones of those affected.