Saudi rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul sues ex-US contractors

Prominent Saudi women’s rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul has sued three former United States intelligence contractors, accusing them of helping hack her cell phone prior to her 2018 arrest and imprisonment.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation on Thursday filed the lawsuit on behalf of al-Hathloul in the US federal court against former US officials Marc Baier, Ryan Adams and Daniel Gericke, as well as a cybersecurity company called DarkMatter that has contracted with the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“Companies that peddle their surveillance software and services to oppressive governments must be held accountable for the resulting human rights abuses,” EFF Civil Liberties Director David Greene said in a statement.

“The harm to Loujain al-Hathloul can never be undone. But this lawsuit is a step toward accountability.”

The lawsuit alleges that the surveillance operation run by the three ex-contractors and DarkMatter led to al-Hathloul’s arrest by the Emirati security services. From there she was extradited by private plane to Saudi Arabia, “where she was detained, imprisoned and tortured”, it states.

DarkMatter assigned her the codename “Purple Sword”, the lawsuit also says, citing a 2019 investigation by the Reuters news agency that first detailed the hacking of al-Hathloul.

Al-Hathloul, who pushed to end a ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia, was imprisoned in 2018 alongside several other Saudi women’s rights advocates.

She was sentenced to an almost six-year jail term on terrorism-related charges in a case that drew international condemnation, and held for 1001 days, with stints in pre-trial detention and solitary confinement, before being released in February.

Rights organisations say some of the women, including al-Hathloul, were held in solitary confinement for months and subjected to abuse including electric shocks, flogging and sexual assault.

According to al-Hathloul family members, some of the torture sessions have been in the presence of Saud al-Qahtani, a close associate of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS. Saudi officials have denied torture allegations.

“No government or individual should tolerate the misuse of spy malware to deter human rights or endanger the voice of the human conscious,” al-Hathloul said in a statement as part of her lawsuit, which was shared by EFF.

“This is why I have chosen to stand up for our collective right to remain safe online and limit government-backed cyberabuses of power. I continue to realize my privilege to possibly act upon my beliefs,” she said.

“I hope this case inspires others to confront all sorts of cybercrimes while creating a safer space for all of us to grow, share, and learn from one another without the threat of power abuses.”