A/HRC/41/CRP.1 PART I – The timeline of the execution of Jamal Khashoggi I. Allegations of Surveillance of Jamal Khashoggi and Others by Saudi Arabia 68. On 1 October 2018, Citizen Lab, a Canadian academic research lab, reported that the cellphone of Saudi political activist Omar Abdulaziz had been infected with Pegasus spyware which is produced and sold by NSO Group. 10 Citizen Lab attributed the infiltration to a Pegasus operator linked to Saudi Arabia. Pegasus had allowed the Saudi-linked operator to access Mr. Abdulaziz’s phone contacts, photos, text messages, online chat logs, emails, and other personal files. The operator also had the ability to use the phone’s microphone and camera to secretly view and eavesdrop on Mr. Abdulaziz. 69. Mr. Abdulaziz has lived in Montreal, Canada, since 2009. At the time his phone was infected, Mr. Abdulaziz was in frequent contact with Mr. Khashoggi. The two discussed human rights issues in Saudi Arabia and projects to strengthen human rights in their homeland. In some messages, Mr. Khashoggi also criticized the policies of the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). In one message, Mr. Khashoggi said “Arrests are unjustified and do not serve [MBS] (logic says), but tyranny has no logic, but he loves force, oppression and needs to show them off. He is like a beast ‘pac man’ - the more victims he eats, the more he wants. I will not be surprised that the oppression will reach even those who are cheering him, then others and others and so on. God knows.”11 70. In December 2018, Mr. Abdulaziz filed a lawsuit in Israel against the NSO Group alleging that the company helped Saudi authorities to infiltrate his phone and spy on Mr. Khashoggi.12 The lawsuit claims that in the months before the killing, the Saudi authorities had access to Mr. Khashoggi’s communications with Mr. Abdulaziz by infecting Mr. Abdulaziz’s phone with Pegasus spyware. NSO Group has denied the allegations. Mr. Abdulaziz has also filed lawsuits against Twitter and the American consultancy firm McKinsey & Company.13 71. Mr. Abdulaziz is not the first Saudi activist targeted. In August 2018, Amnesty International reported that Yahya Assiri, the director of a human rights advocacy organization ALQST, as well as an Amnesty researcher, were also targeted with Pegasus.14 II. Before the Murder 72. Jamal Khashoggi went into a self-imposed exile in September 2017, leaving Saudi Arabia for the United States. In May 2018, Mr. Turan Kislakci, a friend and journalist associated with the Turkish-Arab Media Association, introduced Mr. Khashoggi to Hatice Cengiz, who wanted to interview him.15 In July 2018, Mr. Khashoggi travelled to Istanbul where he again saw Ms. Cengiz at a public musical event. Soon after Mr. Khashoggi told Mr. Kislakci that he wanted to marry Ms. Cengiz. He asked Mr. Kislakci to help him obtain the approval of Ms. Cengiz’s father for the marriage. 73. In August 2018, Ms. Cengiz told Mr. Khashoggi that to be married in Turkey, he needed to obtain a certificate of marriage eligibility from the Saudi authorities. According to two sources, in August-September, Mr. Khashoggi contacted the Saudi Embassy in Washington to obtain the certificate, and was told to obtain the document from the Saudi embassy in Turkey.16 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 14 https://citizenlab.ca/2018/10/the-kingdom-came-to-canada-how-saudi-linked-digital-espionagereached-canadian-soil/ . https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/02/middleeast/jamal-khashoggi-whatsapp-messages-intl/index.html. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/02/world/middleeast/saudi-khashoggi-spyware-israel.html. Interview with OA. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/08/staff-targeted-with-malicious-spyware/. Interview with Witness F. Interviews with OA and KG.