United Nations experts are calling for an investigation into allegations that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in hacking the cellphone of Amazon.com Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos.
“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 on Saudi Arabia,” wrote independent experts Agnes Callamard, UN Special Rapporteur on summary executions and extrajudicial killings, and David Kaye, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, in a statement Wednesday.
The allegations also point to a pattern of targeted surveillance of perceived opponents and those of broader strategic importance to the Saudi authorities, the report said, which are relevant “to ongoing evaluation of claims about the Crown Prince’s involvement in the 2018 murder of Saudi and Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
The report concluded that a WhatsApp account belonging to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince in 2018 deployed digital spyware that enabled surveillance of Bezos.
“The circumstances and timing of the hacking and surveillance of Bezos also strengthen support for further investigation by U.S. and other relevant authorities of the allegations that the Crown Prince ordered, incited, or, at a minimum, was aware of planning for but failed to stop the mission that fatally targeted Mr. Khashoggi in Istanbul.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
