NSO Group—Pegasus spyware used to target family members of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi before and after his killing
Amnesty International's Security Lab established that Pegasus spyware was successfully installed on the phone of Jamal Khashoggi's fiancee Hatice Cengiz just four days after his murder by Saudi operatives in October 2018. His wife Hanan Elatr was also repeatedly targeted between September 2017 and April 2018, and his son Abdullah was selected as a target. NSO denied association with Khashoggi's murder but the evidence showed its Saudi client used Pegasus to surveil the journalist's inner circle.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Authoritarian Compliance | +toward | secondary | -0.50 |
| Press Freedom | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Surveillance Technology | +toward | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.983 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
Amnesty Security Lab confirmed Pegasus installed on Khashoggi's fiancee's phone four days after his murder
Amnesty International's Security Lab forensically established that Pegasus spyware was successfully installed on the phone of Hatice Cengiz, Jamal Khashoggi's fiancee, just four days after his murder on October 2, 2018. His wife Hanan Elatr was also repeatedly targeted between September 2017 and April 2018.