Mohammed Mohsen Wedd - Occupied Jerusalem
A lawsuit brought to the court in Tel Aviv on behalf of Saudi oppositionist Omar Abdel Aziz has raised charges against an Israeli company by enabling Riyadh to spy on dissidents through programs that were also used to penetrate his smartphone and monitor his contacts with murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
According to the lawsuit filed by attorney Alaa Mahajneh on behalf of his client, Abdul Aziz, a Canadian-based political refugee, evidence and evidence of the tracking and penetration were provided, according to a report by the Citizen Lab Center of Canada.
According to the report, Riyadh used the Pegasus spy system, which was invented by the Israeli company NSO, to penetrate Abdel Aziz's phone and monitor his contacts and correspondence with Khashoggi, who was killed in his consulate in Istanbul two months ago.
| The headquarters of the Israeli company "NSO" in Tel Aviv (Al Jazeera) |
International investigation
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Mahajna did not rule out the possibility of using the case in any international investigation that may be opened in the case of Khashoggi, stressing that there is no international system that computes espionage technology companies. Therefore, it is not possible to open a special international investigation on the activity of Israeli companies.
He said that the Turkish authorities, according to what was published, had Khashoggi's smart phone. He could be checked and confirmed that he had penetrated the Pegasus system and the one who carried out the penetration. He linked him with a strong relationship and ideas for projects aimed at mobilizing the Saudi public against the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Mahajna stressed that the lawsuit aims to create a situation of international public opinion that would pressure internationally on the Israeli government that grants operating licenses to NSO and other companies operating under the umbrella of the Ministry of Defense, in order to stop selling spy systems to the dictatorial countries.
Mahajna asked the court to issue an order against NSO to stop its $ 201 million contract with Saudi Arabia, according to an Israeli Haaretz investigation published two weeks ago.
The lawyer confirmed that the Israeli company did not deny the contract with Riyadh, but said that the technology it sells used in the fight against "terrorism" and criminality.
The case was accompanied by evidence and correspondence proving the use of Pegasus technology against Abdel Aziz. This was confirmed by the Citizen Lab Center, which examined Abdel Aziz's phone, and the Israeli spy company's technology was used to listen to Watsab's applications between Abdel Aziz and Khashoggi.
| Mahajna did not rule out the possibility of using the case he filed in any international investigation that may be opened in Khashoggi case (communication sites) |
The bees are electronic
In the lawsuit, Abdel Aziz recounted what happened to him during the month of May when he was visited by two Saudi envoys by Mohammed bin Salman in Montreal. He carried a message that Bin Salman was not satisfied with criticism of him in social media, and demanded that he return to Riyadh in return for temptations , And when the offer was rejected, the envoys tried to convince him to go to the Saudi embassy in Canada, which he also rejected.
Because of the resemblance between the details of what happened with Abdul Aziz and what happened later with Khashoggi, who was killed in his consulate in Istanbul, Abdul Aziz in the case was likely to follow his calls with Khashoggi was one of the main reasons that led to the decision to assassinate.
He confirmed that these messages, which were penetrated by Saudi intelligence with the help of the Israeli spy organization, show some of the projects that the two friends worked on, especially the project "bees electronic", which was in response to the so-called e-flies project, which operates under the umbrella of bin Salman.