A Saudi satirist who was hacked by Pegasus spyware wins damages in a legal battle

The High Court in London awarded a cynical Saudi human rights activist more than £3 million (US$4.1 million) in damages on Monday after finding “irrefutable evidence” that his phone had been hacked with government spyware.

Ghanem Al-Masarir, a London-based comedian whose popular YouTube channel featured videos of him criticizing Saudi Arabia, while earning him millions of viewers, sued the Saudi government in 2019 after claiming his phone was locked. Targeted a year ago with Pegasusmobile spyware that NSO Group sells exclusively to governments.

Al-Masari was also physically assaulted in London in 2018, while his phone was targeted. Agents working for Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, were accused of orchestrating the attack. Real-world attacks are often used in conjunction with digital surveillance tools such as Pegasus, Researchers have found.

The comedian and activist said the attacks on his phone and physical assault caused deep depression, which ended his YouTube career.

Saudi Arabia rejected the legal challenge filed by Al-Masarir channel, saying it had done so State immunity from prosecutionIt is a claim that I successfully defended in a previous case in which the Saudi leader was accused of orchestrating the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Türkiye.

But the Supreme Court rejected Saudi Arabia’s request for immunity in the Al-Masarir case, which prompted the Kingdom not to participate in the case, according to Reuters. Reported for the first time Court ruling.

“There is a compelling basis to conclude that the iPhones were compromised by Pegasus spyware resulting in data leakage from those mobile phones,” Judge Pushpinder Saini wrote. In his ruling.

The judge said the hacking was “directed or authorized” by the Saudi government or its agents. Judge Saini also found that the Saudi government may have been responsible for the Masarir attack.

It is not clear whether Saudi Arabia will pay the fees, or whether the government plans to appeal.

A spokesperson for NSO Group, which makes and sells access to the Pegasus spyware, did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment. The spokesman for the Saudi Embassy in Washington, DC, did not do so