The U.S. Justice Department charged two former Twitter employees with spying for Saudi Arabia by accessing the company’s information on dissidents who use the platform.
From what the court papers say, one of the two was an associate of Saudi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who the CIA suspected to be involved in the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018.
The first accused former employee, is Ahmad Abouammo, a U.S. citizen. He is alleged to have spied on the accounts of three users, including one whose posts discussed the inner workings of the Saudi leadership, on behalf of the government in Riyadh.
Abouammo is also charged with falsifying an invoice to obstruct an FBI investigation.
The second former Twitter employee is Ali Alzabarah, a Saudi citizen, who is accused of accessing the personal information of more than 6,000 Twitter accounts in 2015 on behalf of Saudi Arabia, to get personal information of targets, such as email addresses of the internet protocol addresses.
One of those accounts Alzabarah looked for, included the one owned by a prominent dissident, Omar Abdulaziz, who later became close to Khashoggi.
According to U.S. Attorney David L. Anderson, in a statement:
The case highlights the issue of foreign powers exploiting U.S. social media platforms to identify critics and suppress people's free speech. It also raises concerns about the ability of Silicon Valley to protect the private information of dissidents and other users from repressive governments.
Twitter restricts access to sensitive account information only "to a limited group of trained and vetted employees," said a spokesman. "We understand the incredible risks faced by many who use Twitter to share their perspectives with the world and to hold those in power accountable. We have tools in place to protect their privacy and their ability to do their vital work."
Twitter said that it cooperated with this investigation, and said in a statement that it recognizes "the length bad actors will go to try and undermine" its service.
Since, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz passed away in January 2015, his son Mohammad bin Salman, took the throne. And since then, he became untouched.
Family and friends of the former Twitter employees accused of spying defended them. One of the Abouammo's family members call him a dedicated husband and father who has overcome recent mental health struggles, according to letters of support filed to federal court.
Abouammo’s wife, Zeina, called her husband "my backbone, my rock, and my companion." They have been married for 10 years and have three children together.
Zeina Abouammo wrote that they both suffered from mental health issues over the last year, "yet he was always strong and helpful."
Abouammo’s sister Amani said her brother helped her escape an abusive marriage and has taken care of her daughter, who has multiple disabilities.
“Ahmad is genuine, family guy, and generous,” wrote cousin Rabih Abouammo. "There is no way that he would jeopardize all of (this) for anything, he doesn’t even need to."
In seven letters - four from family members, including Abouammo’s wife, and three from former co-workers - were filed ahead of the hearing.
The letters portrait Abouammo as a kind and caring man who is needed at home to support his family and friends.
Roy Abdo, a colleague of Abouammo at the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, urged the court to double check the facts.
"Knowing Ahmad’s personality, work ethics, and having worked with him on a personal level for over two years, something seems not right about this," Abdo wrote.
Prosecutors said that there is also a third individual, Saudi citizen Ahmed Almutairi, who acted as an intermediary between Saudi officials and the Twitter employees. He is also charged with spying.
For their services to the Kingdom, they were said to have been rewarded by Saudi royal officials with a designer watch and tens of thousands of dollars funneled into secret bank accounts.
Saudi Arabia's massive oil reserves and regional security arrangements, has made the country an ally to the U.S.. And this incident marks the first time that federal prosecutors have publicly accused Saudi Arabia for having agents in the United States.
