Saudi Arabia was involved in Jeff Bezos phone hack, UN says
Two UN officials have said that Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman may have been involved in a plot to hack Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ phone.
Analysis commissioned by Bezos’ security team concluded that a Whatsapp message from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman included a malicious file that infiltrated Bezos’ phone.
The UN special rapporteurs, Agnes Callamard and David Kaye, said they had information pointing to the “possible involvement” of the crown prince in the alleged attack.
In an interview at Davos today, Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud said: “I think ‘absurd’ is exactly the right word. The idea that the crown prince would hack Jeff Bezos’ phone is absolutely silly.”
Callamard said Saudi involvement “demands immediate investigation by US and other relevant authorities.”
Advisory firm FTI Consulting’s report found that huge amounts of data were exported from the phone a month after the video was shared in May 2018, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Outside experts consulted by the UN agreed that the evidence is strong enough to warrant further investigation, Reuters said.
Callamard and Kaye are said to be working towards a fuller report which they expect to deliver in June, according to Reuters.
The alleged phone hack occurred five months before the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed after being lured to the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.
The relationship between Bezos and the Saudi government has soured since early 2019 after bin Salman alluded to Saudi Arabia’s displeasure at the Post’s coverage of Khashoggi’s murder.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the US concluded that the Saudi Crown Prince ordered the journalist’s murder. The Saudi government has blamed rogue elements.
In December a Saudi court sentenced five men to death and three men to jail for the murder, but exonerated the crown prince and his inner circle.