Jamal Khashoggi’s Private Messages Hint His Life was in Danger

Montreal-based activist, Omar Abdulaziz, shared his WhatsApp correspondence with Jamal Khashoggi to CNN. The two harbored misgivings about Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman so they took it upon themselves to start an online youth movement. Between October 2017 and August 2018, Khashoggi and Abdulaziz exchanged ideas on building a virtual army to rally young Saudis and expose state propaganda on social media. Their plan relied on Khashoggi’s establishment profile and Abdulaziz’s 340,000 Twitter followers.

The “cyber bees”, the code name for the electronic army, materialized from initiatives to document human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and create short films for mobile distribution. The Saudi government uses Twitter to reinforce their regime so Abdulaziz and Khashoggi were going to fight back using the same platform.

For their plan, the pair sent foreign SIM cards to Saudi dissidents to keep their Tweets off the radar from Saudi authorities and money. Things went well until Abdulaziz heard government officials in Saudi Arabia were aware of the secret project. In May 2017, Abdulaziz was contacted by two Saudi government officials and met with them in Montreal. He recorded 10 hours’ worth of conversations during their five-day stay in Canada. The men offer Abdulaziz a job and request he come by the Saudi embassy to receive paperwork. Per Khashoggi’s advice, Abdulaziz did not heed their directions, inadvertently saving himself.

Last month, Abdulaziz announced his communications with Khashoggi following a report from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab researchers. Abdulaziz’s phone was hacked by spyware. An Israeli firm named NSO Group invented the military-grade spyware. A researcher at the Lab confirms the software was adopted for use by the Saudi government.

Abdulaziz’s lawyers are accusing NSO of violating international laws by selling its software to oppressive regimes such as Saudi Arabia. NSO Group released a statement, “Our products have a long track record of assisting governments in preventing suicide bombers, stopping drug lords and sex traffickers, and helping safely return victims of kidnapping. If there is suspicion of misuse, we investigate it and take the appropriate actions, including suspending or terminating a contract”.

With the spyware in place, the Saudi government tracked the 400 messages between the men. In his messages, Khashoggi describes bin Salman as tyrannical and he expresses his fear for Saudi Arabia’s future. Such exchanges are illegal in Saudi Arabia where free speech is limited and one must tread lightly so as not to be accused of treason.

Featured Image via Flickr/POMED