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UK-based dissident can sue Saudi Arabia over use of ‘spyware’, rules court

October 22, 2024 at 12:06 pm

A general view of the High Court building in London, United Kingdom on November 15, 2023. [Raşid Necati Aslım – Anadolu Agency]

A prominent Saudi dissident who accuses Saudi Arabia of targeting him with spyware can sue the kingdom in the UK, his lawyers said on Monday. Reuters has reported that Yahya Assiri, a founder of the opposition National Assembly Party (NAAS) who lives in exile in Britain, alleges that his electronic devices were targeted with surveillance software between 2018 and 2020.

He is suing Saudi Arabia at the High Court in London, saying that the Riyadh regime used Pegasus — made by Israeli company NSO Group and sold only to nation states — and other spyware made by lesser-known Israeli firm QuaDream because of his work with dissidents.

Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in London did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Earlier this month, Roger Eastman, a judge in the High Court, gave Assiri permission to serve his lawsuit on the Saudi government, a step that required the court to find that Assiri has an arguable case. The decision announced on Monday to allow the case to be served on Saudi Arabia in Riyadh was made on 11 October.

“I am fully aware that the authorities will want to target me,” said Assiri. “However, it is outrageous for them also to target individuals such as the victims of rights abuses and their families in Saudi Arabia simply because these people have been in contact with me.”

The case is the latest spyware suit against a Gulf state to be heard by a British court. The Court of Appeal rejected Bahrain’s bid earlier this month to claim state immunity in a case brought by two dissidents who say that its government hacked into their laptops with spyware.

The High Court in London rejected an attempt by Saudi Arabia in 2022 to claim immunity in a separate case brought by a dissident over the alleged use of Pegasus.

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