Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi crown prince, with Portuguese player Cristiano Ronaldo.
This Monday, the Kingdom was found responsible for the intrusion of Ghanem al-Masarir’s privacy, hacked and persecuted since 2018, and will have to pay millions in compensation.
With hundreds of millions of views, the YouTuber Ghanem al-Masarir was at its peak when, from his apartment in the English city of Wembley, he began to make powerful enemies, in addition to his fans. The talkative comedian — who sometimes made jokes considered offensive — stood out as a critic of the Saudi Arabian royal family.
The first thing al-Masarir noticed was that his cell phones were behaving strangely. They were very slow and the batteries discharged quickly. Then, he started seeing the same faces when he walked around different areas of London. People who seemed to support the Saudi regime started approaching him on the street, harassing him and filming him.
But how did they know where he was at all times?
Al-Masarir feared his phone was being used to spy on him. Cybersecurity experts would later confirm that he had become yet another victim of the intrusion tool Pegasus.
“It was something I couldn’t understand. They can see your location. You can turn on the camera. You can turn on the microphone, hear us“, says al-Masarir to BBC. “They have your data, all the photos, everything. A person feels violated.”
On Monday, after six years of legal battles, the High Court of Justice in London ruled that the Saudi Arabia is responsible for the intrusion and ordered the kingdom to pay al-Masarir more than 3 million pounds of compensation.
Message scam
al-Masarir’s iPhones were hacked in 2018 after he clicked on links included in three text messages apparently sent by media outlets in the form of special subscription offers.
This led to him being persecuted, harassed and, in August of that year, beaten not central London.
The court heard that two people, whom al-Masarir did not know, approached him and shouted “who is he to talk about the Saudi royal family?”, before hitting him in the face with a punch and continuing the attack.
People passing by intervened and the two men retreated, calling the YouTuber a “slave from Qatar” and saying they were going to “teach him a lesson”.
The High Court judge said the attack was premeditated and noted that one of the attackers was wearing an earpiece.
“There is convincing evidence” that the aggression and computer intrusion “were directed or authorized by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, or by agents acting on its behalf”said Justice Pushpinder Saini.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had a clear interest and motivation to silence public criticism of the Saudi Government”concluded the judge.
After the attack, al-Masarir continued to be persecuted. In 2019, a child approached him in a cafe in the Kensington neighborhood and sang a song praising King Salman, the Saudi monarch. The incident was filmed and posted on social media; It went viral with its own hashtag and was even broadcast on Saudi Arabian state television.
On the same day, a man approached al-Masarir as he was leaving a restaurant in the British capital and said to him: “Your days are numbered”before walking away.
Al-Masarir was born in Saudi Arabia but has lived in the UK for over 20 years. Today he is a British citizen and lives in Wembley, but he no longer ventures far from home — going to central London continues to be a trauma.
The 45-year-old comedian gained notoriety in the Arabic-speaking world with satirical YouTube videos in which he criticized Saudi rulers, particularly the crown prince. Mohammed bin Salmanwhich de facto rules Saudi Arabia.
Al-Masarir’s humorous remarks — and, at times, personal and offensive attacks on the Saudi Government — often went viral, racking up more than 345 million views. In his most viewed video — with 16 million views — he criticized authorities for being angered by a viral video of girls dancing in Saudi Arabia. Mysteriously, the sound was removed on YouTubeand al-Masarir says he does not know how or when the video was edited.
Since being hacked and attacked, he has lost confidence and went into depression. Previously good-natured and open, he agreed to speak to the BBC but remained reserved and did not want to fully reveal his face. He hasn’t published videos in three years and says that, despite his victory in court, the Saudi government managed to silence him.
“No amount of money can compensate for the damage this has caused me,” he says.
“This has changed me. I’m not the same Ghanem I used to be.”
O software Pegasus
Spyware experts at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto in Canada confirmed that al-Masarir had been attacked with Pegasus spyware.
They sent an analyst to London and considered highly likely that the intrusion was orchestrated by Saudi Arabia.
Pegasus is a tool produced by the Israeli company NSO Group, which claims to sell the software only to governments, to help track terrorists and criminals. But Citizen Lab found the program on cell phones of politicians, journalists and dissidents.
When al-Masarir first tried to pursue action against Saudi Arabia, the kingdom argued that it was protected from prosecution under the State Immunity Law.from 1978.
But, in 2022, the court ruled that Saudi Arabia did not benefit from this immunity. Since then, the country is no longer represented in the process.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia did not present a defense nor responded to this action and violated multiple additional orders. It seems unlikely that he will participate in the process”, concluded the judge.
It is not yet clear whether Saudi Arabia will pay the set compensation. The BBC contacted the Saudi embassy in London but received no response.
Al-Masarir says he is determined to enforce the sentence and is willing to appeal to international courts if necessary. But, he says, no amount of money will make up for the way the intrusion turned his life upside down.
“I feel depressed that they were able to do something like this in London, UK.”
