Financial news

Twitter, Saudi Arabia sued for racketeering in California court – JURIST

Activist Areej Al-Sadhan filed a lawsuit against Twitter, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and several Saudi officials for racketeering on Tuesday. Al-Sadhan is suing on behalf of her brother Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, who is imprisoned in Saudi Arabia and was allegedly tortured by Saudi authorities, and herself, claiming that she is a target of Saudi harassment. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.The complaint alleges that Twitter employees transferred the user data of thousands of Twitter accounts to the KSA. In particular, the suit says Twitter transferred the data of those who were critical of the Saudi royal family.Two former Twitter employees named as defendants were found guilty of acting as unregistered foreign agents in 2019 after failing to inform the US Attorney General that they were operating on behalf of Saudi Arabia while working at Twitter. The past criminal charges are related to the present allegations that the defendants used their positions at Twitter to hand over private user data to Saudi Arabian authorities.The suit alleges that since at least 2015, defendants Ahmad Abouammo and Ali Alzabarah transmitted the personal data of nearly 6,000 Twitter users and “accessed and disclosed confidential user data at least 30,892 times” from within Saudi Arabia. The data included names, birthdates, device identifiers, phone numbers and IP addresses associated with Twitter accounts critical of the KSA. During this period, the KSA increased its equity stake in Twitter.Among other defendants, the suit names the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM), a group that funds scholarships for Saudi students to study in the US, as a tool of the KSA which is used to surveil, stalk, and harass dissidents in the United States. It describes Twitter’s relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) as “racketeering activity” and a participant “tool of transnational repression.”Plaintiffs Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan and Areej Al-Sadhan were among those monitored by what the suit calls the ‘Saudi Criminal Enterprise.’ Abdulrahman was kidnapped from his office and reportedly had his hands broken by the KSA’s secret police. The KSA’s secret police allegedly told Abdulrahman “this is the hand you write and tweet with.” Areej was a vocal critic of the KSA who had allegedly been stalked and harassed online and in person over her criticism of the Saudi government.The suit alleges kidnapping, torture, and conspiracy to kill in violation of California Penal Code 207, 187 and 189. Jamal Khashoggi was one of the five victims of the alleged criminal enterprise named in the complaint.