Khashoggi’s Widow Files French Complaint Over Pegasus Spyware Infection
The widow of Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi has filed a complaint with the French prosecutor’s office, alleging that her phone was infected with Israeli spyware shortly before her husband’s murder. Hanan Elatr Khashoggi contends that the intrusion occurred during her business travels, including while she was on French soil.
According to the complaint, her devices were compromised in April 2018 — mere months before the tragic events at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, where Jamal Khashoggi was brutally killed and dismembered. An investigation by Canada’s Citizen Lab determined that both of her phones had been infected with Pegasus, the espionage software developed by the Israeli company NSO Group. This tool can secretly activate a smartphone’s microphone and camera, extract data, and effectively transform the device into a fully fledged surveillance instrument.
The complaint states that the breach of her private communications coincided with her detention at an airport in the United Arab Emirates — a country closely aligned with Riyadh. Her legal representatives emphasized that the possible connection between this incident and the subsequent murder of her husband cannot be dismissed.
French authorities have not yet decided whether to open a formal investigation. The complaint does not attribute responsibility to any specific state or company. Should a case be initiated, it could set a significant precedent, particularly in light of previous legal actions brought against NSO Group in other jurisdictions.
Pegasus has long stood at the center of international controversy. In 2022, Amnesty International found that at least eleven governments had acquired the technology, using it to surveil journalists, human-rights defenders, and political opponents. In October of this year, a U.S. court barred NSO Group from using Pegasus against WhatsApp users as part of a cyber-espionage lawsuit.
The 2018 killing of Jamal Khashoggi provoked global condemnation. The journalist, who lived in the United States and wrote for The Washington Post, was a regular critic of the Saudi authorities. American intelligence concluded that the operation to eliminate him had been authorized by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Yet despite these findings, several Western leaders continue to maintain close ties with him.
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