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On Tuesday, a San Francisco court convicted Ahmad Abouammo, a 44-year-old former Twitter employee, for spying on behalf of the government of Saudi Arabia.
According to prosecutors, Ahmad Abouammo used his position in Twitter to provide the Saudi Arabian government with the details of any critics or outspoken dissenters who attacked the policies of the Kingdom. The Verge reported that he was also convicted of falsifying records, money laundering, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
In connection to these charges, Abouammo could receive 10 to 20 years in prison. CBS noted that this was the first incident in which the Saudi Arabian government was accused of spying on America.
The allegations against Ahmad Abouammo
According to Bloomberg, Ahmad Abouammo was collaborating illegally with aides of Mohammad Bin Salman, the current Prince of Saudi Arabia.
Abouammo is accused of having leaked sensitive information to Salman's team over 5 months, between November 2014 and May 2015. Allegedly, in return for the information, prosecutors claimed that he received not only money but material gifts, such as a designer watch.
In an official capacity, Ahmad Abouammo's role was to promote the Twitter profiles of Saudi government officials, a position he held from 2013-2015. However, according to CBS, prosecutors accuse Abouammo of providing the Saudi Arabian government with information linked to more than 6000 Twitter accounts.
Saudi law enforcement allegedly attempted to shut down at least 33 of these accounts through disclosure requests submitted to Twitter. One of the most prominent ones was 'Mujtahidd,' an anonymously run account that frequently attacked the Saudi royal family.
In an official statement, prosecutor Eric Chung said:
“They paid for a mole. We all know that that kind of money is not for nothing.”
He continued:
“That luxury watch—it was not free. The kingdom had now secured its Twitter insider.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, in 2019, the Department of Justice indicted Abouammo and fellow Twitter employee Ali Alzabarah on espionage charges.
CBS reported that another Saudi Arabian citizen, Ahmed Al-Mutairi, was accused of acting as a liaison between Twitter employees and members of the Saudi royal family. He was charged in 2020.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the trial spanned over two weeks at the San Francisco federal courthouse. In response to the charges, Abouammo's argued that it was an exaggeration to describe him as a spy and that Twitter should have been held responsible for failing to secure its information.
The Verge reported that in response to the news of the alleged moles in Twitter, human rights activists such as Ali Al-Ahmad had sued the company for privacy breaches.
