UAE agents bugged Khashoggi's wife's phone with spyware before scribe's killing: Report

The mobile phone of Hanan Elatr, the wife of Saudi dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi was reportedly bugged by United Arab Emirates agents. The cell phone of Hanan Elatr was infected several months before he was killed in 2018. Jamal Khashoggi was killed in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, reported Sputnik citing The Washington Post. The phone of Elatr was reportedly infected when she was questioned by UAE officials.  

Hanan Elatr's phone infected by spyware

The phone of Hanan Elatr was secretly infected with powerful spyware in the months before he was killed. Pegasus was the spyware that was used to bug Elatr’s mobile phone. Pegasus is owned and sold around the world by the Israeli NSO Group. The forensic analysis of the phone was conducted which showed that spyware had been installed several months before Khashoggi’s death. The spyware was installed manually in Elatr’s phone in 2018 when she was questioned by UAE officials, reported Sputnik citing The Washington Post. The action of the UAE was noticed by the group of news organizations who are investigating the killing of Jamal Khashoggi. 

Earlier this month, French authorities had arrested a person as a suspect in the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, according to AP. The suspect was held based on a Turkish arrest warrant. Later on 8 December, the French authorities informed that the man arrested at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris for alleged link to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was misidentified. The Paris General Prosecutor's office issued a short statement on Wednesday after 24 hours of interrogation and confirmed that the man arrested was not Khalid Aedh al-Otaibi who is wanted in the case. 

Jamal Khashoggi killing

A journalist named Jamal Khashoggi was killed on October 2, 2018, after he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. He had entered the consulate to receive documents that would permit him to marry his Turkish fiancee, reported AP. According to Turkish officials, Khashoggi had written critically about Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and was killed by a team of Saudi agents. The family of Khashoggi had stated that they had forgiven his killers. 

Inputs from AP

Image: AP/Unsplash