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What was the reason for the court's refusal to proceed with the murder and state espionage case?
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the widow of journalist Jamal Khashoggi against Israeli spy software developer NSO Group. The judge ruled that the phone hacking charges in the months before Khashoggi's murder in 2018 were unrelated to where the lawsuit was filed.
Recall that the widow of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi filed a lawsuit against the NSO Group, accusing it of installing Pegasus spyware on the widow's phone, which forced her to quit her job, fear for the safety of her family and constantly "look back".
NSO Group's Pegasus spyware was installed on 2 smartphones of Hanan Elathr a few weeks before her marriage to Khashoggi in June 2018. Elatre, who was born in Egypt and is seeking political asylum in the United States, claimed in her lawsuit that Saudi officials used Pegasus to spy on her and Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi authorities, before his murder in October 2018.
NSO claimed to have developed software to track criminals, but reports from the Washington Post showed that the tool was often used against journalists and human rights defenders.
At an October 20 hearing, the court said that to file a claim, the incident had to have occurred in Virginia, which is not the location of the offense. Elatre's lawyer noted that the privacy breach continued in Virginia, even after the phones were infected with Pegasus.
The lawyer for NSO Group compared the company to a manufacturer of listening equipment, claiming that the company only creates tools, and surveillance is carried out by its clients. In response to the lawsuit, NSO lawyers wrote that the form condemns the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, but NSO Group was not involved in the actions described in the lawsuit.
Elatr can appeal the court's decision. In addition, NSO Group has also been involved in other legal proceedings involving the use of its spyware against journalists and human rights defenders in other countries.
Note that in 2019, WhatsApp accused NSO of installing Pegasus due to an error on the servers, as a result of which the developer gained access to 1.4 thousand user accounts, according to court documents. Messenger filed a lawsuit against the NSO, demanding a ban on its work and compensation for damages from unauthorized access to servers.
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the widow of journalist Jamal Khashoggi against Israeli spy software developer NSO Group. The judge ruled that the phone hacking charges in the months before Khashoggi's murder in 2018 were unrelated to where the lawsuit was filed.
Recall that the widow of murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi filed a lawsuit against the NSO Group, accusing it of installing Pegasus spyware on the widow's phone, which forced her to quit her job, fear for the safety of her family and constantly "look back".
NSO Group's Pegasus spyware was installed on 2 smartphones of Hanan Elathr a few weeks before her marriage to Khashoggi in June 2018. Elatre, who was born in Egypt and is seeking political asylum in the United States, claimed in her lawsuit that Saudi officials used Pegasus to spy on her and Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi authorities, before his murder in October 2018.
NSO claimed to have developed software to track criminals, but reports from the Washington Post showed that the tool was often used against journalists and human rights defenders.
At an October 20 hearing, the court said that to file a claim, the incident had to have occurred in Virginia, which is not the location of the offense. Elatre's lawyer noted that the privacy breach continued in Virginia, even after the phones were infected with Pegasus.
The lawyer for NSO Group compared the company to a manufacturer of listening equipment, claiming that the company only creates tools, and surveillance is carried out by its clients. In response to the lawsuit, NSO lawyers wrote that the form condemns the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, but NSO Group was not involved in the actions described in the lawsuit.
Elatr can appeal the court's decision. In addition, NSO Group has also been involved in other legal proceedings involving the use of its spyware against journalists and human rights defenders in other countries.
Note that in 2019, WhatsApp accused NSO of installing Pegasus due to an error on the servers, as a result of which the developer gained access to 1.4 thousand user accounts, according to court documents. Messenger filed a lawsuit against the NSO, demanding a ban on its work and compensation for damages from unauthorized access to servers.