Britain’s High Court has ruled the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia liable for the hacking of phones belonging to Ghanem al-Masarir and for a physical assault against him. The court mandated that the kingdom pay over £3 million in damages to the dissident, whose devices were compromised by the notorious Pegasus spyware.
In a ruling handed down on Monday, Judge Pushpinder Saini determined that Ghanem al-Masarir is entitled to compensation for moral damages suffered after he learned of the hack on his iPhone, as well as for an attack on his person near the Harrods department store in central London.
Judge Saini asserted that there are compelling reasons to conclude that the claimant’s iPhone was breached by the Pegasus spyware, resulting in a data leak, and that these actions were either directed or sanctioned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or its agents.
The judge also established with a high degree of certainty that Saudi Arabia was responsible for the assault on al-Masarir in 2018. The 45-year-old satirist, also known as Ghanem al-Dosari, whose YouTube channels have garnered more than 300 million views, found himself targeted in both the digital and physical realms.
The Kingdom had attempted to have the case discontinued by claiming state immunity, but this argument was dismissed by the High Court in 2022. Following an unsuccessful appeal, Saudi Arabia withdrew from the legal process. The case stems from a 2018 investigation by Citizen Lab, which verified the infection of Ghanem al-Dosari’s telephones with the Pegasus spyware, developed by Israel’s NSO Group.