DHAKA: US presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a boycott of Apple until the tech giant helps unlock the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino killers.

Apple has clashed with the Justice Department (DoJ) over a court order forcing the company to help break the encryption on one of its phones.

On Friday the DoJ called Apple’s refusal a ‘marketing strategy’.

Apple said it will not help break into the phone, citing wider privacy concerns for its users, reports the BBC.

The phone belonged to one of the two people who opened fire at an office event in San Bernardino, California, last December, killing 14

Speaking at a campaign rally, Trump said, ‘Boycott Apple until such time as they give that information’.

On Thursday, a court ordered the tech giant to help break the encryption.

The government has called the request narrow and argued it is only focused on this particular iPhone.

The DoJ filed another motion in court on Friday after Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, said Apple would continue to refuse the order.

A California court has set 22 March for the hearing.

BDST: 1226 HRS, FEB 20, 2016
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