Murder in Istanbul: espionage in Khashoggi’s environment

The murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in autumn 2018 was a gruesome crime. Research within the framework of the “Pegasus Project” shows that many people in his environment were probably deliberately spied on.

Nothing has damaged the reputation of the Israeli company NSO as much as the suspicion that its technology played a major role in spying on the Saudi oppositionist Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was editor-in-chief of the important Saudi newspaper al-Watan. At times he had advised the government. After the rise of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, he went into exile in the USA in autumn 2017 and became a columnist for the Washington Post.

At home he could be arrested, Khashoggi feared, as did other critics of the royal family. It got far worse. On October 2, 2018 at 1:15 p.m., the 59-year-old entered the Saudi consulate general in Istanbul and was murdered. The body was later dismembered, presumably with a bone saw, and burned. It was a monstrous crime.

The former UN Special Rapporteur on “Extrajudicial Executions”, Agnes Callamard, voiced suspicion that the cell phones of people close to Khashoggis had been infected with the “Pegasus” surveillance program, including Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and owner of the Washington Post “. Resolute denials came from the NSO. Their boss Shalev Hulio later explained the US broadcaster CBS that he could say “very clearly” that one had “nothing to do with this terrible murder”. “I can guarantee you that our technology has not been used on Jamal Khashoggi or his relatives.”

Turkish Attorney General on the selection list

This denial was evidently false. Research within the framework of the “Pegasus Project” in Germany NDR, WDRwho were involved in the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and “Die Zeit” now show that Kashoggi’s family members, friends and colleagues were targeted before and after the crime. Their numbers can be found in a list of telephone data that NSO customers have entered as possible spying destinations. The cell phone of the Turkish chief investigator, General Prosecutor Irfan Fidan, is also given there. He was charged with solving the murder. The number of Khashoggi himself does not appear there, however.

An analysis by Amnesty International’s Security Lab revealed that the phone of Khashoggi’s fiancé, Hatice Cengiz, was indeed infected with the Pegasus software four days after the crime – on October 6th. Cengiz had accompanied Khashoggi to the consulate and waited hours outside the door for his return. Khashoggi had only dared to represent him because he needed official divorce papers in order to be able to marry Hatice Cengiz.

On October 6th, the case made headlines around the world. The suspicion that a killer squad that had specially traveled to Istanbul by private jet had murdered Khashoggi was in the room. The Saudi regime tried a PR offensive. The Saudi consul general in Istanbul invited journalists to tour the building. He opened filing cabinets and even the wood panels on the air conditioner. Everything in perfect order, that was the message.

Erdogan interrupted the session because of Khashoggi

On October 12, the media reported that Turkish investigators had sound recordings of the murder – apparently the consulate was bugged. According to Amnesty International, two activities of the “Pegasus” software on the cell phone of Khashoggi’s fiancé Hatice Cengiz can be verified on the same day. It appears that the Saudis responded to the surveillance of their Istanbul branch with surveillance on their part. They didn’t leave it with the fiancée. Among the phone numbers that NSO customers have entered as possible destinations is that of Khashoggi’s ex-wife Hanan Elatr Khashoggi. Traces of spying attempts were found on her cell phone, even before the death of her ex-husband.

The Turkish politician Yasin Aktay, an advisor to the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was apparently also affected by a spying attack. Khashoggi and Aktay were friends. As a precaution, Hatice Cengiz had saved his cell phone number in her device in case she needed urgent help. It was 4:41 pm on the day of the day when she called him. She was still standing in front of the consulate, waiting for her fiancé. Aktay says today that he first called a friend, a Saudi dissident. He reacted horrified. “How often have we told him not to go to the consulate?”, Aktay remembers his words. Then the friend pushed him. There is not much time left, he must now do everything he can for Khashoggi.

Aktay says he called the deputy Turkish intelligence chief and then called Erdogan’s office. The President had specially interrupted an important meeting and instructed the secret service “to do everything they can to get information and at least to save him.” But it was too late. A short time later, according to Aktay, Turkish intelligence officials came to see him in his office. “You are being monitored,” they said, and his cell phone and computer were affected. They advised him to change the devices. When asked who was behind it, the secret service agents only said: “From the Gulf.” In addition, the secret service agents had indicated that it was not only he who was affected, but that it was a major operation, says Aktay: “I understood at the time that my phone was not the only one that was infected.”

Aktay’s number can be found in the data, as well as that of many other people from the area around Kashoggi at the time, for example three phone numbers of Wadah Khanfar, the former head of the Al Jazeera television station. Khashoggi and Khanfar were friends, and to this day he is committed to solving the crime.

Israel’s government is said to have advocated cooperation with Saudi Arabia

The Khashoggi case has two peculiarities: It is still unclear whether there was also a surveillance attack on his own cell phone. “Some things were never made public, such as the contents of Jamal’s cell phone and computer or whether malware was discovered on them,” says former UN Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard. The question of whether his devices had also been carefully examined, they have “always worried”.

In addition, an analysis of the NSO data by Amnesty International suggests that the surveillance of some family members and friends was not initiated directly by Saudi Arabia, but by a close ally of the kingdom – the United Arab Emirates, which is also believed to be a customer of NSO. The data also suggest that there was an interruption in surveillance of those around Khashoggi following the murder – until spring 2019, when it began again. The “Zeit” quotes two sources from the NSO environment, according to which the business relationship with Saudi Arabia was stopped in 2018. A few months later, however, the Israeli government asked NSO to reactivate “Pegasus” for the Saudis. Neither Saudi Arabia, Israel, nor the United Arab Emirates responded to a request.

The “New York Times” reported this week that the Israeli government had “encouraged” not only the NSO, but also three other companies from the surveillance area to continue cooperation with Saudi Arabia and to approve exports.

Khashoggi was 59 years old. His last text, which appeared in the Washington Post, was entitled “What the Arab world needs most is freedom of expression”. It is the freedom that is most threatened by the use of tools like “Pegasus”. Khashoggi was already dead when the play appeared.

NSO: No connection

When asked, the NSO reiterated that its technology “is in no way related to the heinous murder of Jamal Khashoggi”. This was investigated shortly after his death. In addition, NSO stated in its response that many of the items listed in all of the planned reporting were “false claims”. There is “no factual basis” for them.

Regardless of the wrong information from the company’s point of view, it will in principle continue to investigate “all credible allegations” about abuse of its programs and, if in doubt, “take appropriate measures”, such as switching off customer systems, as has happened several times in the past, NSO said. You see yourself on a “life-saving mission”, since the said technology is helping to prevent terrorist attacks or to smash drug trafficking rings.

Kristiana Ludwig, Kai Biermann, Dana Priest, Souad Mekhennet, Arthur Bouvart and Stephanie Kirchgaessner collaborated on the research for this text.