UN experts have called for an "immediate investigation" into claims that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman was involved in the hacking of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' phone.
The allegations came to light in a number of media reports yesterday, including from The Guardian and The Washington Post (the latter of which Mr Bezos owns).
It's claimed that a forensic analysis of Mr Bezos' iPhone found with a "medium to high confidence" that the billionaire's phone was infiltrated in May 2018 by a video file sent from a WhatsApp account personally used by Mohammad bin Salman.
According to the analysis, the two men had exchanged phone numbers shortly before the alleged hack.
The forensic analysis suggests that shortly after the MP4 video file was received there was a 'massive' increase in the data sent from Mr Besoz' phone - which continued for several months.
File photo - Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS). Photo by Bandar Al Jaloud - Royal Palace / ABACAPRESS.COMAccording to the UN, the analysis found that the intrusion "likely was undertaken through the use of a prominent spyware product identified in other Saudi surveillance cases".
It's said that following the alleged hacking, the Saudi Crown Prince sent WhatsApp messages to Mr Bezos "in which he allegedly revealed private and confidential information about Mr Bezos' personal life that was not available from public sources".
The analysis claims this coincided with a "massive, clandestine" online campaign in Saudi Arabia against Mr Besoz, focused on his ownership of The Washington Post.
The US newspaper has given space to a number of prominent critics of the Saudi regime - most prominently Jamal Khashoggi, the journalist who was killed by a Saudi hit squad at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2nd 2018.
"Allegations reinforce other reporting"
In a statement today, two UN special rapporteurs - Agnes Callamard and David Kaye - said the new hacking claims demand an immediate investigation.
They said: "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.
"The allegations reinforce other reporting pointing to a pattern of targeted surveillance of perceived opponents and those of broader strategic importance to the Saudi authorities, including nationals and non-nationals.
"These allegations are relevant as well to ongoing evaluation of claims about the Crown Prince's involvement in the 2018 murder of Saudi and Washington Post journalist, Jamal Khashoggi."
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, has dismissed the hacking claims as "absurd":
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) January 22, 2020
The new allegations come a year after Mr Bezos claimed the parent company of US tabloid The National Enquirer threatened to publish "intimate" photos of him - claiming he was the target of "extortion and blackmail".
Publisher AMI had previously been investigated by The Washington Post over their publication of a pro-Saudi tabloid.
Mr Bezos claimed "the Saudi angle seems to hit a particularly sensitive nerve" with AMI CEO David Pecker.
The Guardian report suggests the latest revelations are "likely to raise difficult questions" for Saudia Arabia about how the National Enquirer came to publish "intimate details about Bezos’s private life".
