Saudi Arabia Hacks, Threatens London-based Dissident By an “Israeli” Malware

By Staff, The Guardian

Saudi Arabia has been accused of launching a sophisticated hacking attack against a prominent dissident in London who is living under police protection, according to a letter that has been sent to the kingdom and seen by The Guardian.

The letter, which was delivered to the Saudi embassy in London on Tuesday, was sent on behalf of the Saudi satirist Ghanem Almasarir, and states that he was targeted by Saudi Arabia with malware developed by the NSO Group, the “Israeli” surveillance company.

NSO’s Pegasus software has been used by Saudi Arabia and other governments to target journalists, human rights campaigners and political activists.

A report earlier this month found that the spyware had previously taken advantage of a glitch on WhatsApp to try to gain access to a phone used by a British lawyer involved in a civil case against NSO Group.

According to the letter, Almasarir received suspicious text messages in June 2018. These were tracked by independent experts to a Pegasus operator who was “focused on Saudi Arabia” and were linked to a separate attack against another Saudi critic.

The letter reveals that certain indicators on Almasarir’s two Apple iPhones, coupled with the fact that he had clicked on corrupt weblinks sent to him, as well as Saudi Arabia’s widely reported use of Pegasus, led to the “inevitable conclusion” that the kingdom was responsible for sending Almasarir the texts and for the infection of his devices.

“A vast amount of Mr Almasarir’s private information was stored and communicated on his iPhones … This included information relating to his personal life, his family, his relationships, his health, his finances, and private matters relating to his work promoting human rights in Saudi Arabia,” the letter of said.

“We use the space of freedom in the west, in Europe and America and the Saudis want to take this freedom away from us by making me and others feeling like we are living in prison,” Almasarir told The Guardian.

The Saudi embassy in London and a spokesman for the Saudi embassy in Washington did not reply to requests for comment on the letter.

The new information comes as other critics of the Saudi government – one in Norway and one in Canada – have been warned by local authorities that unspecified threats have been made against them by the kingdom. Saudi Arabia has declined to comment on previous reports of threats to the dissidents.

The Almasarir statement, as well as emerging reports of other threats, suggest a new campaign is potentially being waged by the Saudi government against critics abroad.

Almasarir, who has lived in London since 2003, is known as a sharp-tongued critic of the Saudi royal family with more than 400,000 followers on Twitter. He has said his YouTube channel, the Ghanem Show, which has received 230m views, is meant to increase awareness of Saudi’s human rights record and poke fun at the royal family.