Jamal Khashoggi's wife targeted with spyware before his death
Source: Washington Post
The Pegasus Project A global investigation
Jamal Khashoggi’s wife targeted with spyware before his death
The cellphones of murdered Saudi columnist’s fiancee and associate hacked after his murder
By Dana Priest, Souad Mekhennet and Arthur Bouvart
Updated July 18 at 12:05 p.m.
Originally published July 18, 2021
ANKARA, Turkey — NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware was used to secretly target the smartphones of the two women closest to murdered Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, according to digital forensic analysis.
The Android phone of his wife, Hanan Elatr, was targeted by a Pegasus user six months before his killing, but the analysis could not determine whether the hack was successful. The iPhone of his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, was penetrated by spyware days after the murder, the forensics showed.
Their cellphone numbers appeared on a list of more than 50,000 numbers that are concentrated in countries known to spy on their citizens and also known to have been NSO clients.
Another of Khashoggi’s close associates was successfully hacked after the journalist’s murder. Two other associates and two senior Turkish officials involved in his homicide investigation appear on the list.
NSO executives have asserted that its spyware was not used to monitor Khashoggi or his family.
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Read key takeaways from The Pegasus Project
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2021/07/18/takeaways-nso-pegasus-project/
About this project
Priest and Bouvart reported from Ankara and Istanbul. Mekhennet reported from Washington and Berlin. Julie Tate contributed to this report from Washington. Bouvart is an investigative reporter and videographer at Forbidden Stories.
Forbidden Stories, a Paris-based journalism nonprofit, and Amnesty International had access to a list of phone numbers concentrated in countries known to surveil their citizens and also known as clients of NSO Group. The two nonprofits shared the information with The Post and 15 other news organizations worldwide that have worked collaboratively to conduct further analysis and reporting over several months. Forbidden Stories oversaw the Pegasus Project, and Amnesty International provided forensic analysis but had no editorial input.
More than 80 journalists from Forbidden Stories, The Washington Post, Le Monde, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Zeit, the Guardian, Daraj, Direkt36, Le Soir, Knack, Radio France, the Wire, Proceso, Aristegui Noticias, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Haaretz and PBS Frontline joined the effort.
Dana Priest Follow https://twitter.com/danapriest
Dana Priest, a reporter at The Washington Post for 30 years, covers national security issues. Recently, she has investigated Russian disinformation operations, censorship around the world, the massive national security state, CIA operations and veterans issues. She is the Knight Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland.
Souad Mekhennet Follow https://twitter.com/smekhennet
Souad Mekhennet is a correspondent on the national security desk. She is the author of "I Was Told to Come Alone: My Journey Behind the Lines of Jihad," and she has reported on terrorism for the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune and NPR.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2021/jamal-khashoggi-wife-fiancee-cellphone-hack/
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