By Raphael Satter

(Reuters) - A refugee advocate caught up in an Italian political scandal over the recent release of an alleged war criminal was targeted using sophisticated spyware, according to an alert sent to him by iPhone maker Apple.

David Yambio, the head of the Refugees in Libya group, received the alert on November 13, according to a message he shared with Reuters. The message warned him that his iPhone was targeted in a "mercenary spyware attack" and that, "This attack is likely targeting you specifically because of who you are or what you do."

Yambio told Reuters the surveillance was inexcusable.

"I know I'm not a criminal. I have never been a criminal. Why should I be spied on?" he said.

Apple has periodically issued alerts to users who it believes have been targeted using mercenary spyware, a practice that dates back to 2021, when it sued the Israeli hacking company NSO Group to curb its spying on Apple customers.

The circumstances of the alert received by Yambio late last year are not clear. Apple did not immediately return a message seeking comment and Yambio said he was reserving judgment on who might be responsible for the hacking pending a forensic examination of his device.

Yambio's disclosure comes amid an escalating scandal in Italy over the alleged use of Paragon spyware to intercept the communications of domestic opponents of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Anonymously sourced reports have claimed the spyware company Paragon, which has marketed itself as a more responsible alternative to NSO, cut its ties to the Italian government following allegations the government had used Paragon's technology to hack its critics.

Paragon has not returned repeated messages seeking comment on the revelations. The Italian government did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Yambio's case, although officials have more broadly denied any involvement in the hacking.

Yambio was one of the alleged victims of Libyan police officer Osama Elmasry Njeem, who was released by Italian authorities last month despite being wanted by the International Criminal Court over a string of human rights abuses, including murder, torture and rape.

He was arrested in Italy on January 19 on an ICC warrant but was freed two days later and flown back to Libya on a government plane, officially because of a procedural fault with his arrest.

Opposition politicians and human rights groups have accused Meloni's government of freeing Njeem because it relies on Libyan security forces to check the flow of African migrants crossing the Mediterranean and did not want to antagonize them by arresting such a high-profile figure.

The release triggered a legal investigation into Meloni, two of her ministers, and a cabinet undersecretary.

Yambio was among those who publicly deplored Njeem's release, calling it a "huge betrayal" at a news conference two weeks ago held in Italy's parliament. Njeem has not publicly commented on the charges against him.

(Reporting by Raphael Satter; Editing by Chris Reese)