Hacking gang targeted Qatar World Cup critics

A man walks past the Khalifa Stadium in Doha on Nov 6, 2022, ahead of the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. A Qatari official rejected the allegations, describing the Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s (TBIJ) report as ‘littered with glaring inconsistencies and falsehoods that undermine the credibility of their organisation’. — AFP

LONDON: An India-based computer hacking gang targeted critics of the Qatar World Cup, an investigation by British journalists said on Nov 6, as the Qatari government furiously denied it had played any part in commissioning the eavesdropping.

A database leaked to Britain’s Sunday Times and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed the hacking of a dozen lawyers, journalists and famous people from 2019 “commissioned by one particular client”, the newspaper and the bureau said in a statement.