A team of international investigators brought to Mexico to unravel one of the nation’s gravest human rights atrocities was targeted with sophisticated surveillance technology sold to the Mexican government to spy on criminals and terrorists.

The spying took place during what the investigators call a broad campaign of harassment and interference that prevented them from solving the haunting case of 43 students who disappeared after clashing with the police nearly three years ago.

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“This case just on its face — and presuming the veracity of the allegations — is serious enough to warrant the creation of an international commission,” said James L. Cavallaro, a commissioner on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which appointed the group of experts. “The commission shares the concerns of others: How can the government be trusted to investigate its own alleged violation of citizen rights given its track record in this matter?”

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“The Mexican government implored the commission to create this expert group, and then when their investigation did not ratify the official version, things changed,” said Mr. Cavallaro, who was the president of the Inter-American Commission at the time of the hacking attempts. “If it’s true that the government spied or tried to spy on our experts, that would be an outrage of historic proportions.”

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