Experts doubt reports that Jamal Khashoggi’s Apple watch recorded his death

People
protest the disappearance of journalist Jamal
Khashoggi.

Chris
McGrath/Getty Images

• Security and technical commentators have cast doubt on
  reports from the Turkish media that journalist Jamal
  Khashoggi’s “torture and death” inside the Saudi Arabian
  consulate in Istanbul was captured by his Apple watch and sent
  to his iPhone.
• Khashoggi is a Saudi Arabian journalist writing for the
  Washington Post, and he has been missing since 2 October when
  he was last seen walking into his home country’s embassy in
  Turkey. 
• According to media reports, Turkish officials say they
  have evidence of Kashoggi’s murder inside the embassy, and that
  the journalist actually recorded what happened to him on his
  Apple Watch.
• But sceptics point to the fact that the Watch’s
  cellular connection would not be available in Turkey, that its
  Bluetooth connection would have been lost, and that Apple
  Watches do not support the fingerprint unlock feature.
• Some have speculated that it’s more likely the reports
  are a cover story, and the Turkish government had other means
  of obtaining information about Khashoggi.

Technology and security experts are disputing the reports from
Turkish press, reportedly seeded by Turkish officials, that
journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s Apple watch captured audio of
him being tortured and killed inside the Saudi Arabian consulate
in Istanbul.

News broke that Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and vocal critic of
the Saudi Arabian government, had
disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on
October 2. Turkish officials said they believe Khashoggi was
murdered inside the consulate. Saudi Arabia has rejected the
accusation. Khashoggi’s fate is still unclear.

Turkish newspaper Sabah reported on Saturday
that Khashoggi had started recording audio on his
Apple Watch when he entered the consulate, and those recordings
were beamed to his iPhone which was being held by his fiancée
outside the consulate. It said that audio recordings of his
torture and murder were sent to the iCloud and his phone, and
that his assailants subsequently noticed and unlocked the
watch with Khashoggi’s fingerprint, and proceeded to delete
some files.

Multiple experts and commentators have flagged up what they view
as inaccuracies in the story.

Khashoggi’s Apple Watch is unlikely to have had a cellular
connection

Firstly, some pointed out that the watch would not have had
access to cellular data because Turkey
does not support LTE. Therefore, the watch would not have
been able to connect to the internet unless paired with a nearby
iPhone or logged onto the embassy’s WiFi.

Given that Khashoggi’s iPhone was with his fiancee outside the
embassy, it is likely that the Watch would have been out of
range.

The end of the report perhaps poses the biggest problem, because
the Apple Watch does not support a Touch ID system, which
recognises fingerprints.

Some also pointed to the fact that the Apple Watch does not have
a native audio recording app — although it is possible to
download one from third-party app makers.

The National correspondent Joyce Karam also said that when she
attended an event at the same consulate, she’d been obliged to
remove her Fitbit fitness band, making her sceptical
that Khashoggi would have been able to retain his
Apple Watch.

 

There is some speculation that the Apple Watch report is a cover
story, and the Turkish government had other means of obtaining
information about Khashoggi’s disappearance.

One expert suggest the Turkish government might have bugged the
consulate.  Former CIA officer Robert Baer told
CNN, “I think what’s happened, clearly, is the Turks
have the Saudi consulate wired, they have transmitters.”

“It seems far more likely that they have other means of detecting
what foreign diplomats are up to and the Apple Watch story is
just useful cover,” writes the BBC’s
technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones.

Business Insider has contacted both Apple and the Turkish embassy
in London for comment.