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UN Experts Say Bezos Phone Hacking Linked to Saudi Prince

VOA News

   DUBAI - United Nations human rights investigators say Saudi Arabia may
   have hacked the cell phone of Amazon boss and Washington Post owner
   Jeff Bezos in an attempt to impact the newspaper's news coverage of the
   Middle Eastern country.

   The investigators concluded in a report released Wednesday that an
   infected video from the WhatsApp account of Crown Prince Mohammed bin
   Salman was sent to the billionaire's cell phone.

   "The alleged hacking of Mr. Bezos' phone, and those of others, demands
   an immediate investigation by U.S. and other relevant authorities,"
   U.N. Special Rapporteurs Agnes Callamard and David Kaye said in a
   report issued in Geneva.

   "U.N. digital forensics experts who analyzed Bezos' phone in 2019 said
   records showed that within hours of receiving the video, there was "an
   anomalous and extreme change in phone behavior," according to the
   report.

   The experts also said enormous amounts of data from Bezos' phone was
   transmitted in the following months.

   The Saudi embassy in the U.S. vehemently denied that kingdom hacked the
   phone, tweeting that media reports suggesting that such a hack occurred
   "are absurd." The embassy also called for an investigation into the
   matter "so that we can have all the facts out."

     Recent media reports that suggest the Kingdom is behind a hacking of
     Mr. Jeff Bezos' phone are absurd. We call for an investigation on
     these claims so that we can have all the facts out.
     -- Saudi Embassy (@SaudiEmbassyUSA) [1]January 22, 2020

   The report is likely to increase tensions between the Saudi kingdom and
   Bezos, the world's richest man.

   Relations began to sour after the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi
   dissident columnist for the Washington Post.

   Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in
   Istanbul, Turkey, in October 2018, five months after Bezos' phone was
   infiltrated.

   "The information we have received suggests the possible involvement of
   the Crown Prince in surveillance of Mr. Bezos, in an effort to
   influence, if not silence," the Washington Post's reporting of Saudi
   Arabia, the UN experts said.

   The investigators said the timing and circumstances of the hacking are
   grounds to further investigate "allegations that the Crown Prince
   ordered, incited, or, at a minimum, was aware of planning for" the plot
   to kill Khashoggi.

References

   1. https://twitter.com/SaudiEmbassyUSA/status/1219792870389035008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

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