A Canada-based Saudi dissident filed a lawsuit against an Israeli based surveillance company this week, claiming the Saudi government had hacked his phone through the firm’s spyware and had accessed to all those sensitive conversation which he had with journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The suit has been filed on Sunday, in a Tel Aviv court. Omar Abdulaziz has lodged a case against the NSO group. Abdulaziz claims to be a close friend of Khashoggi and were working on a project together. Khashoggi was a contributor to Washington Post’s Global Opinions and was killed on October 2 in Istanbul by 15-men group from Saudi Arabia.
In relation to Khashoggi’s murder, two Saudi officials close to crown prince Mohammed bin Salem, has been dismissed, but denies the thing that Salem has ordered the killing of Khashoggi.
Israeli software has been accused of enabling the private data between Khashoggi and Adbulaziz to Saudi. The software allows to access all the sensitive information stored on the phone.
The court paper states, “The details of this collaboration were known to the authorities in the isKingdom through the Pegasus system.”
Abdulaziz alleged that the Pegasus software has been used by the Saudi to access details and recordings of Khashoggi and Abdulaziz, which helped Saudi to murder Khashoggi successfully.
The lawsuit states: “The spying that was directed against Abdulaziz and the disclosure of the content of the conversations and messages between him and Khashoggi through the system contributed in a tangible way to the decision to assassinate Mr. Khashoggi by the assassins at the consulate.”
Abdulaziz claimed his information been hacked by NSO group but NSO declines the alleged report and called it “baseless” and said no evidence has been found about its technology acquiring personal knowledge of Khashoggi and Abdulaziz.
NSO said, “NSO is a technology company that is uninvolved with how our products are used once they are sold to our customer,” adding, “This is a lawsuit based on sensationalist journalism.”
NSO group has been spotlighted from months after some of the figures has appeared claiming against the company’s technology, which has accessed to their personal and private conversation. NSO said, “We do not tolerate misuse of our products. If there is suspicion of misuse, we investigate it and take the appropriate actions, including suspending or terminating a contract.”
Director of amnesty international Israel Molly Malekar said, “We thoroughly reject this inadequate response. The mountain of evidence and reports on NSO Group and the sale of its spyware to human rights-violating regimes is substantial proof that NSO has gone rogue.”