The Emir of Dubai hacked the phones of his wife Haya and British lawyers

The 72-year-old head of government of the United Arab Emirates has infiltrated the phone of his sixth wife, Princess Haya Bint al-Hussein, with Pegasus spyware and given her “express or indirect recognition”. The court said.

He also authorized the introduction of the software on the phones of lawyers, a personal assistant and two members of his 47-year-old wife’s security team, against whom he launched a “fear and intimidation” campaign.

Once installed, Pegasus can track a person’s location, read their text and emails, listen to calls, record live actions, access apps, photos and operate the camera and microphone remotely.

Hawking has not been proven to be involved in the legal battle to return two children to Dubai between him and his wife in the UK – Al Jalila, 13, and Zayed, nine. -, but the “biggest” volume was 265 megabytes of data extracted from Princess Haya’s phone (24 hour voice recording or 500 photos).

Judge Andrew McFarlane ruled on Wednesday that the Emir of Dubai was “ready to use the hand of the state to get what he deems fit”, even if the surveillance was undoubtedly carried out by “his father’s servants or agents.”

“He persecuted and intimidated his mother before he left for England,” he stressed, adding that “he is willing to tolerate those who act on his behalf illegally in the UK.”

The princess, the younger sister of Jordan’s Abdullah II, has demanded a degree of protection against forced marriage, which could concern one of her two children, as well as protect herself. Start. 2019 United Arab Emirates for the United Kingdom.

Pegasus is a product of the Israeli company NSO, which appeared in the middle of a storm this summer after a press conference that the software was used by NSO clients to spy on politicians, business leaders or the media.

A source close to the NSO told AFP that Pegasus’ services to the Emir had been reduced to December 2020. The panel claims that it actually follows very strict procedures to avoid illegal use of its product. He claims to provide the software, but does not run it himself.

So far, “NSO has not given up on shutting down old customer systems worth more than $ 300 million,” a spokesman said.