Saudi women’s rights activist sues three ex-US intel operatives over hacking for UAE

Loujain al-Hathloul, the prominent Saudi women’s rights activist, has filed a lawsuit against three former US intelligence and military officers who have admitted in a US court to helping carry out hacking operations on behalf of the United Arab Emirates.

In her lawsuit, which was filed in a US district court in Oregon in conjunction with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Hathloul alleged that the actions of three men – Marc Baier, Ryan Adams, and Daniel Gericke – led to her iPhone being hacked and communication being exfiltrated by UAE security officials.

The hacking ultimately led, the lawsuit alleges, to Hathloul’s arrest from the UAE and rendition to Saudi Arabia, where she was detained, imprisoned and tortured.

The lawsuit marks the first time that Hathloul, who was released from a Saudi prison earlier this year but remains confined to the kingdom, has taken legal action against the individuals who are alleged to have played a role in her detention.

She gained international prominence for her human rights work, including a campaign to allow women in Saudi to drive.

Related: Saudi Arabia: Loujain al-Hathloul release sparks calls for 'real justice'

The three defendants have already admitted in a separate legal action brought by the US Department of Justice that they violated US export control and computer fraud laws in their previous role as senior managers for a UAE company.

Attorneys for the three men did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the lawsuit, the UAE company that the three men worked for – DarkMatter – used Apple’s messages app and other Apple infrastructure to deploy malware on Hathloul’s phone, which “intentionally or recklessly” transmitted malware that used servers located in the US to carry out an alleged hack of her phone.

Reuters has previously reported that a campaign to hack individuals that was run by DarkMatter– known as Project Raven – targeted and hacked Hathloul, and assigned her the codename “Purple Sword”.

“DarkMatter’s hacking of Ms al-Hathloul’s iPhone was part of the UAE’s campaign of persecution against perceived dissidents of itself and Saudi Arabia,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit describes how, on 13 March 2018, Hathloul was intercepted and arrested while she was driving in Abu Dhabi. After being renditioned to Saudi Arabia and arrested, interrogators later mentioned “details” regarding her private communications between herself and other human rights activists, which had been transmitted via Telegram and WhatsApp.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages against the individuals and DarkMatter.