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Husband of San Bernardino survivor pens letter in Apple's favor

Apple gains an unexpected ally in its fight against a court's order forcing it to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone -- a survivor's husband. Read the full letter.
Written by Jake Smith, Contributor
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James Martin/CNET

Apple has an unexpected ally in its fight against a court's order forcing it to unlock the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone -- a survivor's husband.

Salihin Kondoker is the husband of Anies Kondoker, who was shot three times but survived the deadly attack that occurred in early-December.

Salihin Kondoker wrote a letter on Apple's behalf, and it was submitted in the case on Thursday. The letter was subsequently published by Apple.

"In my opinion it is unlikely there is any valuable information on this phone," Salihin Kondoker wrote in the letter, which was first posted by BuzzFeed and is embedded below.

"This was a work phone. My wife also had an iPhone issued by the County and she did not use it for any personal communication," Salihin continued. "San Bernardino is one of the largest counties in the country.

"They can track the phone on GPS in case they needed to determine where people were. Second, both the iCloud account and carrier account were controlled by the county so they could track any communications. This was common knowledge among my wife and other employees."

In the letter, Kondoker says he's an IT consultant for Pacific Gas & Electric in California. His letter argues that privacy is important and Apple should say strong in their refusal.

"I support Apple and the decision they have made. I don't believe Tim Cook or any Apple employee believes in supporting terrorism any more than I do. I think the vicious attacks I've read in the media against one of America's greatest companies are terrible," Salihin continued.

In an NPR interview published earlier this week, San Bernardino Police Chief Jarrod Burguan doubted there is nothing valuable on the iPhone the FBI is seeking access to.

"I'll be honest with you, I think that there is a reasonably good chance that there is nothing of any value on the phone. What we are hoping might be on the phone would be potential contacts that we would obviously want to talk to," he said.

Letter From Salihin Kondoker

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