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Bezos Phone Hack Appears Tied to Saudi Crown Prince, U.N. Experts Say Bezos Phone Hack Tied to Saudi Crown Prince Puts New Pressure on Kingdom
(about 3 hours later)
BEIRUT, Lebanon — A WhatsApp account belonging to Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman appears to have been used to hack into the cellphone of Jeff Bezos in an effort to “influence, if not silence” reporting on the kingdom by The Washington Post, two United Nations human rights experts said on Wednesday. BEIRUT, Lebanon — United Nations experts broadened the inquiry into Saudi Arabia’s efforts to squelch criticism on Wednesday, accusing its crown prince of personally hacking the cellphone of Jeff Bezos, the billionaire owner of The Washington Post, to “influence, if not silence” the newspaper’s critical coverage of the kingdom.
Mr. Bezos, the billionaire chief executive officer of Amazon, who also owns The Post, received an encrypted video from the crown prince loaded with digital spyware that enabled surveillance of his cellphone starting in May 2018, the United Nations experts said in a statement. The accusations, by two prominent United Nations rights experts, threatened to hamper efforts by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to shake off the stigma of the 2018 murder and dismemberment of a Washington Post columnist by Saudi agents in Istanbul.
The new allegations against Crown Prince Mohammed, whose rise to power in Saudi Arabia has been punctuated by a wide-ranging crackdown on dissidents at home and abroad, suggest that the kingdom’s hacking and social media attacks have hit a wider range of targets than was previously known. The experts did not directly investigate the hack, which The New York Times could not independently verify. But giving their imprimatur to an outside investigation bolstered criticism of the kingdom’s covert efforts to silence critical voices and widened the possibilities of who could be targeted.
In recent years, technology researchers and human rights groups have documented cases of operators who appear to be working for Saudi Arabia infiltrating the devices of well-known Saudi dissidents and manipulating social media in the kingdom to amplify voices praising Crown Prince Mohammed and drown out his critics. “The hacking of Jeff Bezos is in a different league,” said Agnes Callamard, one of the United Nations experts. “He is not a Saudi citizen. He is a person of strategic interest, and his hacking appears to have been driven by his ownership of The Washington Post.”
But targeting the cellphone of an American citizen who is one of the world’s richest businessmen would mark a clear escalation. According to a statement by the two experts on Wednesday, Mr. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, received an encrypted video from a WhatsApp account belonging to Prince Mohammed that was loaded with digital spyware. By watching the video, Mr. Bezos enabled surveillance of his cellphone starting in May 2018. Ms. Callamard said that the surveillance was believed to have continued for nine months, until February 2019.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington on Wednesday called the idea that the kingdom had hacked Mr. Bezos’ cellphone “absurd.” During his rise, Prince Mohammed, a son of the Saudi king, has pushed to open Saudi society by letting women drive and expanding entertainment opportunities. But he also has overseen a wide-ranging crackdown on dissidents at home and abroad.
The hacking is particularly sensitive because of Mr. Bezos’s ownership of The Post, which at the time it was done was publishing coverage critical of the kingdom and had taken on Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi writer, as a regular columnist. Mr. Khashoggi had fled Saudi Arabia for the United States and often criticized Crown Prince Mohammed in his columns. In recent years, technology researchers and human rights groups have documented cases of operators who appear to be working for Saudi Arabia infiltrating the communications devices of well-known Saudi dissidents and manipulating social media in the kingdom to amplify voices praising Prince Mohammed and drown out his critics.
Six months after the hack of Mr. Bezos’s phone, Mr. Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by a team of Saudi agents inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain papers needed to marry his Turkish fiancée. The Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed most likely ordered the murder. But targeting the cellphone of an American citizen who is one of the world’s richest businessmen would be a clear escalation.
Last year, Mr. Bezos accused American Media Inc., the tabloid publisher, of “extortion and blackmail” after it exposed an extramarital affair he was having and threatened to publish graphic photos if he did not publicly state that the reporting by The National Enquirer was not motivated by political concerns. While it remained unclear how The Enquirer had obtained Mr. Bezos’ photos, he suggested that the company was doing the bidding of Saudi Arabia. The Saudi Embassy in Washington on Wednesday called the idea that the kingdom had hacked Mr. Bezos’ cellphone “absurd” and did not respond to a request for comment about the hacking of Saudi dissidents.
In their statement on Wednesday, the United Nations experts also accused Saudi Arabia of launching vast social media campaigns to tar the image of Mr. Bezos after the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. The hacking of Mr. Bezos is particularly sensitive because of his ownership of The Post, which had published coverage critical of the kingdom and had retained Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident Saudi writer, as a regular columnist. Mr. Khashoggi had fled Saudi Arabia for the United States and often criticized Prince Mohammed in his columns.
Six months after the hack of Mr. Bezos’s phone, Mr. Khashoggi was killed by Saudi agents in Istanbul, where he had gone to obtain papers needed to marry his Turkish fiancée. The Central Intelligence Agency has concluded that Prince Mohammed most likely ordered the murder. He and other Saudi officials deny he played a role.
Last year, Mr. Bezos accused American Media Inc., the tabloid publisher, of “extortion and blackmail” after it exposed an extramarital affair and threatened to publish graphic photos if he did not publicly state that reporting by The National Enquirer was not motivated by political concerns. While it remained unclear how The Enquirer had obtained Mr. Bezos’s photos, he suggested that the company had been doing the bidding of Saudi Arabia.
In their statement on Wednesday, the United Nations experts also accused Saudi Arabia of starting vast social media campaigns to tar the image of Mr. Bezos after the killing of Mr. Khashoggi.
“At a time when Saudi Arabia was supposedly investigating the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, and prosecuting those it deemed responsible, it was clandestinely waging a massive online campaign against Mr. Bezos and Amazon targeting him principally as the owner of The Washington Post,” the experts said.“At a time when Saudi Arabia was supposedly investigating the killing of Mr. Khashoggi, and prosecuting those it deemed responsible, it was clandestinely waging a massive online campaign against Mr. Bezos and Amazon targeting him principally as the owner of The Washington Post,” the experts said.
The United Nations experts, Agnes Callamard, special rapporteur on summary executions and extrajudicial killings, and David Kaye, special rapporteur on freedom of expression, have both been involved in the investigation into Mr. Khashoggi’s murder. They based their assessment on a forensic investigation carried out at Mr. Bezos’s request. Mr. Bezos did not comment on the hack, but posted a photo of himself on Twitter on Wednesday standing beside Mr. Khashoggi’s Turkish fiancée and with his hand resting on a stone bearing Mr. Khashoggi’s name. The caption read, “#Jamal.”
The hacking of Mr. Bezos’ phone came at the start of a two-month period in mid-2018 when at least four Saudi dissidents living abroad reported having their devices hacked with technologies similar to that deployed on Mr. Bezos. Saudi officials have not revealed the whereabouts of Mr. Khashoggi’s remains.
The United Nations experts — Ms. Callamard, special rapporteur on summary executions and extrajudicial killings, and David Kaye, special rapporteur on freedom of expression — both investigated Mr. Khashoggi’s murder and based their assessment of the hack on a forensic investigation carried out at Mr. Bezos’s request.
The hack of Mr. Bezos’s phone came at the start of a two-month period in mid-2018 when at least four Saudi dissidents living abroad reported having their devices hacked with technologies similar to that found to have been deployed against Mr. Bezos.
They included Omar Abdulaziz, a dissident in Canada with a large social media following; an unidentified researcher for Amnesty International; Yahya Assiri, who runs a human rights monitor in London; and Ghanem al-Masarir, who hosts a YouTube show from Britain that skewers the Saudi leadership.They included Omar Abdulaziz, a dissident in Canada with a large social media following; an unidentified researcher for Amnesty International; Yahya Assiri, who runs a human rights monitor in London; and Ghanem al-Masarir, who hosts a YouTube show from Britain that skewers the Saudi leadership.
The United Nations experts said that taken together, the cases pointed to “a pattern of targeted surveillance of perceived opponents and those of broader strategic importance to the Saudi authorities.” The United Nations experts said that, taken together, the cases pointed to “a pattern of targeted surveillance of perceived opponents and those of broader strategic importance to the Saudi authorities.”
Mr. al-Masarir, who said his two cellphones were hacked in June 2018, said by phone on Wednesday that the kingdom used hacking as a low-cost way to keep an eye on people it disliked. Mr. al-Masarir, who said his two cellphones had been hacked in June 2018, said by phone on Wednesday that the kingdom used hacking as a low-cost way to keep an eye on people it disliked.
“It is a way to spy on you all the time without sending 1,000 people to follow you around,” he said. “Instead, they are in your phone and they hear you and see you and know who you are with.”“It is a way to spy on you all the time without sending 1,000 people to follow you around,” he said. “Instead, they are in your phone and they hear you and see you and know who you are with.”
The Saudi Embassy in Washington, in denying responsibility for the hacking of Mr. Bezos’s phone, called for an investigation but did not say who should carry it out.The Saudi Embassy in Washington, in denying responsibility for the hacking of Mr. Bezos’s phone, called for an investigation but did not say who should carry it out.
The statement on the hack by the United Nations experts adds to the pressure on Crown Prince Mohammed — essentially accusing him of new criminality at a time when the kingdom has sought to overcome the negative coverage of its military intervention in Yemen, its blockade of Qatar and the killing of Mr. Khashoggi. The hacking accusations add to the pressures on Prince Mohammed — essentially accusing him of new criminality while the kingdom is trying to overcome the negative news coverage of its nearly five-year-old military intervention in Yemen, its blockade of Qatar, its short-lived holding of the prime minister of Lebanon in 2017 and the killing of Mr. Khashoggi.
The revelations also further complicate relations between the Saudi government and the Trump administration, which has stood by Crown Prince Mohammed despite an international outcry over Mr. Khashoggi’s death and the assessment by Mr. Trump’s own intelligence services that the crown prince was likely involved. The awkwardness has been compounded by Saudi Arabia’s assumption of the presidency of the Group of 20 and the expectation it will host the group’s summit meeting this year, opening the kingdom’s doors to leaders of the world’s most developed countries.
Mr. Trump has consistently stood by Crown Prince Mohammed and the kingdom as reliable Arab allies and buyers of American weapons. Crown Prince Mohammed is also close with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and the two men chat frequently on WhatsApp, according to former White House officials. The hacking could also complicate relations between the Saudi government and the Trump administration, which has stood by Prince Mohammed despite an international outcry over Mr. Khashoggi’s killing and the assessment by Mr. Trump’s own intelligence services that the crown prince was most likely involved.
The United Nations experts called on the United States and “other relevant authorities” to immediately open an investigation into the hack of Mr. Bezos’s phone, citing a pattern of similar surveillance of perceived critics of the Saudi government. Mr. Trump has exalted Prince Mohammed as a reliable Arab ally and buyer of American weapons. Prince Mohammed is also close with Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, and the two men chat frequently on WhatsApp, according to former White House officials.
Their statement cited a 2019 forensic analysis of Mr. Bezos’s phone that assessed with “medium to high confidence” that his phone had been infiltrated on May 1, 2018, via an MP4 video file sent from a WhatsApp account utilized personally by the Saudi crown prince. The report, which was reviewed by The New York Times, indicated that Mr. Bezos continued to receive messages from the crown prince’s WhatsApp account after Mr. Khashoggi’s death. The United Nations experts called on the United States and “other relevant authorities” to immediately investigate the hack of Mr. Bezos’s phone.
Their statement cited a 2019 forensic analysis of Mr. Bezos’s phone that assessed with “medium to high confidence” that his phone had been infiltrated on May 1, 2018, via an MP4 video file sent from a WhatsApp account used personally by the Saudi crown prince. The report, which was reviewed by The New York Times, indicated that Mr. Bezos continued to receive messages from the crown prince’s WhatsApp account after Mr. Khashoggi’s death.
The report was carried out at Mr. Bezos’s request by the business advisory firm FTI Consulting and given to the United Nations experts by Mr. Bezos’s associates for their assessment. Messages sent by the crown prince’s account throughout 2018 suggested that he had intimate knowledge of Mr. Bezos’s private life.The report was carried out at Mr. Bezos’s request by the business advisory firm FTI Consulting and given to the United Nations experts by Mr. Bezos’s associates for their assessment. Messages sent by the crown prince’s account throughout 2018 suggested that he had intimate knowledge of Mr. Bezos’s private life.
On Nov. 8, 2018, the report said, Mr. Bezos received a message from the account that included a single photo of a woman who strongly resembled Lauren Sanchez, with whom Mr. Bezos was having an affair that had not been made public. The photo was captioned, “Arguing with a woman is like reading the software license agreement. In the end you have to ignore everything and click I agree.” On Nov. 8, 2018, the report said, Mr. Bezos received a message from the account that included a single photo of a woman who strongly resembled Lauren Sanchez, with whom Mr. Bezos was having a clandestine affair. The photo was captioned, “Arguing with a woman is like reading the software license agreement. In the end you have to ignore everything and click I agree.”
At the time, Mr. Bezos and his wife were discussing a divorce, which would have been apparent to someone reading his text messages.At the time, Mr. Bezos and his wife were discussing a divorce, which would have been apparent to someone reading his text messages.
Mr. Bezos and Crown Prince Mohammed, the report said, exchanged phone numbers at a dinner in Los Angeles in April 2018. The crown prince initiated a messaging conversation with Mr. Bezos that same day over WhatsApp. Mr. Bezos and Prince Mohammed, the report said, exchanged phone numbers at a dinner in Los Angeles in April 2018. The crown prince initiated a messaging conversation with Mr. Bezos that same day over WhatsApp.
Ben Hubbard reported from Beirut and Michael Schwirtz from New York. Sheera Frenkel contributed reporting from San Francisco.Ben Hubbard reported from Beirut and Michael Schwirtz from New York. Sheera Frenkel contributed reporting from San Francisco.