The case of Aditya Verma's arrest raises a debate about the privacy of correspondence on Snapchat.
In July 2022, an incident occurred with a British student Aditya Verma on an Easyjet flight from London to Menorca. Upon arrival at the airport of the island of Verma, he was detained by Spanish law enforcement agencies.
Before boarding, Verma sent a Snapchat message to his friends, which included a picture of himself and the caption: "I'm going to blow up the plane (I'm a member of the Taliban)." This message was intercepted by a Wi-Fi server at Gatwick Airport.
When the plane flew over French territory, the message was passed on to the British intelligence services. Upon arrival in Menorca, Verma was arrested by the Spanish police and spent two days in custody before being released on bail.
Verma returned to the UK, where he was questioned by MI5 and MI6 intelligence agents. He was then allowed to return to his home in South London. The Spanish Civil Guard analyzed his correspondence and found no links between the student and radical Islam.
Verma's lawyers consider the authorities reaction excessive and believe that the interception of personal messages in Snapchat violated their client's right to privacy of correspondence. According to them, the phrase about the Taliban was an unsuccessful joke in a private dialogue and should not have been a reason for the intervention of the special services.
"Aditya did not post this message publicly on Facebook or anywhere else. In fact, he joked in a narrow circle of friends, just like among themselves during a car ride, " explained one of the human rights activists.
"This young man was only 18 years old, and the trip to Menorca was supposed to be a reward for his brilliant schoolwork. When he and his friends landed on the island, they realized that they were in a real nightmare."
However, Verma faces charges of disorderly conduct. If he is found guilty, he faces a fine of 22.5 thousand euros. In addition, he may be fined 95 thousand euros as compensation for the fact that Spanish F-18 fighters were sent for the plane.
On Monday, at a court hearing in Madrid, Verma once again mentioned that the message was "a joke for a small circle of friends."
"I sent it to friends who were flying with me," he explained.
When asked why he found the mention of the Taliban funny, the young man replied: "I've been joked about like that since I was in school because of my appearance... I just wanted to make my friends laugh."
Seeing the fighter jets accompanying the plane, Verma thought it was a military exercise related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Representatives of Snapchat claim that private messages in their application are confidential, but they are silent about whether encryption is used in them. However, Snapchat has a "Just for my Eyes" feature that encrypts images so that only the sender and recipient can view them.
In July 2022, an incident occurred with a British student Aditya Verma on an Easyjet flight from London to Menorca. Upon arrival at the airport of the island of Verma, he was detained by Spanish law enforcement agencies.
Before boarding, Verma sent a Snapchat message to his friends, which included a picture of himself and the caption: "I'm going to blow up the plane (I'm a member of the Taliban)." This message was intercepted by a Wi-Fi server at Gatwick Airport.
When the plane flew over French territory, the message was passed on to the British intelligence services. Upon arrival in Menorca, Verma was arrested by the Spanish police and spent two days in custody before being released on bail.
Verma returned to the UK, where he was questioned by MI5 and MI6 intelligence agents. He was then allowed to return to his home in South London. The Spanish Civil Guard analyzed his correspondence and found no links between the student and radical Islam.
Verma's lawyers consider the authorities reaction excessive and believe that the interception of personal messages in Snapchat violated their client's right to privacy of correspondence. According to them, the phrase about the Taliban was an unsuccessful joke in a private dialogue and should not have been a reason for the intervention of the special services.
"Aditya did not post this message publicly on Facebook or anywhere else. In fact, he joked in a narrow circle of friends, just like among themselves during a car ride, " explained one of the human rights activists.
"This young man was only 18 years old, and the trip to Menorca was supposed to be a reward for his brilliant schoolwork. When he and his friends landed on the island, they realized that they were in a real nightmare."
However, Verma faces charges of disorderly conduct. If he is found guilty, he faces a fine of 22.5 thousand euros. In addition, he may be fined 95 thousand euros as compensation for the fact that Spanish F-18 fighters were sent for the plane.
On Monday, at a court hearing in Madrid, Verma once again mentioned that the message was "a joke for a small circle of friends."
"I sent it to friends who were flying with me," he explained.
When asked why he found the mention of the Taliban funny, the young man replied: "I've been joked about like that since I was in school because of my appearance... I just wanted to make my friends laugh."
Seeing the fighter jets accompanying the plane, Verma thought it was a military exercise related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
Representatives of Snapchat claim that private messages in their application are confidential, but they are silent about whether encryption is used in them. However, Snapchat has a "Just for my Eyes" feature that encrypts images so that only the sender and recipient can view them.
