Independent human rights experts at the United Nations have called for Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to be investigated over claims that he hacked Jeff Bezos' phone.
Bezos, who owns the Washington Post newspaper and e-commerce giant Amazon, allegedly had his phone hacked after receiving a WhatsApp message in May 2018 which originated from the crown prince's personal account, according to the Guardian.
A probe into the hacking allegedly uncovered that Bezos' phone began sharing a "massive and unprecedented" amount of data after receiving an MP4 file sent by Mohammed bin Salman.
Bezos and bin Salman are thought to have exchanged phone numbers around a month before the file was sent.
In October of the same year, Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a known critic of the Saudi regime, was murdered at the kingdom's embassy in Istanbul.
Bezos' rocky relations with the gulf state have deteriorated since the killing.
Now, UN special rapporteurs Agnes Callamard and David Kaye have called for an investigation into the “possible involvement” of the crown prince in the hacking.
They said: "The information we have received suggests the possible involvement of the crown prince in surveillance of Mr Bezos, in an effort to influence, if not silence, the Washington Post's reporting on Saudi Arabia.”
Callamard and Kaye also allege that Khashoggi's phone was hacked at the same time as Bezos'.
The Saudi embassy in the US has called the allegations "absurd".
It said in a statement: "We call for an investigation on these claims so that we can have all the facts out".
