The wife of the Saudi journalist who was killed Khashoggi faces the spy company Pegasus in Virginia court The reason why I feel insecure is that my privacy is being violated. believes he got his spies to contribute to her husband’s murder
On June 16, 2023, The Washington Post reported that Hanan Elatr, the wife of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist affiliated with the Washington Post, was murdered in the consulate. in istanbul In 2018, he filed a lawsuit against the spyware developer Pegasus in the Eastern District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he found himself spying on the spyware.
June 2 2018 Jamal’s 5th birthday
June 2, 2018 is our 5th anniversary
May God have mercy on you, my dear wife, You were noble in secret and in public. #justice For Jamal Khashoggi pic.twitter.com/p6DbArTsgJ
– Mrs Hanan Elatr Khashoggi (@hananelatr) June 2, 2023
Photos of Hanan and Khashoggi
Hanan reports, who is currently awaiting political asylum status in the United States. went on to sue the owner of the Pegasus company to court for breaking the anti-hacking laws by illegally hacking a mobile phone or computer system without the owner’s consent; And it is also a serious threat that apart from her having just lost her husband. She also had to lose her security. privacy and independence And also caused her to lose her income and her job as a flight attendant.
Khashoggi’s wife was spied on after UAE authorities detained her at Dubai airport in April 2018 as she had just finished her job as an Emirates flight attendant. Detention officers then took her to her home to question her for 17 hours and confiscated her mobile phone. This happened before Khashoggi was murdered and mutilated in October of the same year.
Khashoggi’s death has been reported as a result of an investigation by US intelligence agencies. Prince Mohammed bin Salman may have masterminded the killing of Khashoggi, a journalist who had previously been critical of himself and the Saudi monarchy.
‘Pegasus’ spy found on Saudi journalist Khashoggi’s wife before murder
According to Bill Marksag, a cyber security researcher, from citizens lab It was discovered that someone was secretly bringing Pegasus spyware. It was placed directly on Khashoggi’s wife’s phone during her detention.
Previously, Hanan had given an interview to the media that she feels hurt and guilty that she may have played a role in allowing the authorities to track Khashoggi through her phone. But after her husband’s death, she continues to be threatened by the UAE authorities. The officer kept asking. What will she do next? and confiscating her family’s passport made her worry about their own safety. and her family
Pegasus Spyware is spyware that the NSO Group sells only to government customers of countries approved by the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The government of the partner country must provide the phone number of the targeted person in order for the company to hack the system and retrieve the data for the customer.
Such spyware has the ability to exploit vulnerabilities in mobile phone operating systems. Gives companies access to data conversations financial information and passwords saved on the phone and can also control the work of different parts of the targeted phone such as camera, microphone or capture a screen (screenshot) as well without specifying the hacker’s access time.
However, in Hanan’s case, the Biden administration added NSO Group to its list of companies approved by the US government. Prohibition prohibiting the transfer of certain types of technology to this company. Because it is against US foreign policy and security interests, especially human rights, the ban on NSO Group occurs even though its operations are always under the eyes of the Israeli government.
The NSO Group has also been sued under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) of 1986 against a number of US technology companies. suing together, for example Meta (provider of whatapps and facebook), Microsoft, Google and Apple, etc. There is also a lawsuit filed by a journalist from the New Yorker.
Online news outlet outside the US El Faro, whose 13 reporters are being spied on, is suing the company through the CFAA in California.
In Thailand, at least 35 activists and personnel from civil society organizations have also been traced, and eight activists, academics and lawyers have tried to sue the company through the Thai Civil Court seeking compensation from the company. The total is 8,500,000 baht for the crime of crime causing damage. However, the Civil Court dismissed the case on the basis that the 8 plaintiffs could not sue jointly as one case.
Last June 20, 2023, Yingcheep Atchanon, manager of iLaw, and Anon Namph, two lawyers who previously filed a lawsuit with the Civil Court in the above cases filed a joint lawsuit with the Administrative Court to issued an order against Thai security agencies. Ministry of Finance and the Cyber Security Supervisory Committee (KLAM), which is a total of 9 agencies, to compensate these agencies that violate the constitution and the Computer Act by using Pegasus to hack a total of 5,000,000 baht in damages into the mobile phone system during political activism threatening their rights to privacy and freedom of expression.
