Qatar: Al-Jazeera employee phones hacked

Al-Jazeera Plateau, Doha, Qatar (Photo illustration).

KARIM JAAFAR AFP

Text by: RFI Follow

2 min

The phones of 36 Al-Jazeera employees were reportedly hacked with spyware.

The Qatari television station entrusted the investigation to a group of experts at the University of Toronto, Canada.

According to them, the operation was carried out by an Israeli company and could have been sponsored by the authorities of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

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It all started with death threats received by an investigative Al-Jazeera reporter.

" 

We are going to make you the next

Jamal Khashoggi

 ".

These are the types of messages that Tamer Almissahl discovers on the screen of his phone.

This same phone was quickly handed over to the experts at CitizenLab at the University of Toronto, Canada.

They then discovered that the device was hacked by spyware developed by the Israeli group NSO.

The company in question denies any involvement in this piracy.

Very advanced technology

The technology used is in any case very advanced since it makes it possible to hack the device without having to get the user to click on a link beforehand in order to unknowingly authorize access to the cameras and the GPS of the device. the device.

Experts discovered that 36 members of the

Al-Jazeera

channel

were also hacked.

According to Citizen Lab, two of the software operators worked for the governments of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates respectively.

These two countries have severed their relations with Qatar where

Al-Jazeera

is based

.

They accuse their neighbor of financing terrorism and of having too good relations with Iran.

► Read also: Crisis in the Gulf: among the grievances of Qatar's neighbors, the al-Jazeera case

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