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UN calls for probe into possible hacking of Bezos’ phone

Jan 22, 2020 | 7:34 AM

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — United Nations experts Wednesday called for an “immediate investigation” by the United States and others into information they received that suggests that Jeff Bezos’ phone was hacked after receiving a file sent from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s WhatsApp account.

Bezos owns The Washington Post and is the founder of Amazon.

At a time when Saudi Arabia was supposedly investigating the killing of Saudi critic and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and prosecuting those it deemed responsible, “it was clandestinely waging a massive online campaign against Mr. Bezos and Amazon targeting him principally as the owner of The Washington Post,” the experts said in their statement.

The U.N. experts reviewed a 2019 digital forensic analysis of Bezos’ iPhone, which they said was made available to them as U.N. Special Rapporteurs.