Dubai ruler used Pegasus spyware to hack ex-wife Princess Haya: report
Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum hacked the phone of his ex-wife, Jordan’s Princess Haya, and those of her legal team after she fled to London amid a divorce and custody dispute, a U.K. high court judge has found.
Judge Andrew McFarlane said that the findings “represent a total abuse of trust, and indeed an abuse of power, to a significant extent.”
The phone numbers for Princess Haya — half-sister of Jordan’s King Abdullah — and members of her legal and security teams, were among those found on a list of 50,000 numbers targeted by Pegasus spyware.
The military-grade spyware, licensed by the Israeli firm NSO Group, were used in attempts to hack into smartphones belonging to thousands of world leaders, activists and journalists, according to an investigation released in July by The Washington Post and 16 media partners.
The U.K. high court judgement said “the mobile phones of the mother (Princess Haya), two of her solicitors, her personal assistant and two members of her security staff had been the subject of either successful or attempted infiltration by surveillance software. The software used is called Pegasus software and was that of an Israeli company, the NSO Group.”
NSO has said it has 60 customers in 40 countries, including intelligence, military and law enforcement agencies. Its chief executive, Shalev Hulio, said the company was aware that some customers misuse its products, and investigated “every allegation.”
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
