Twitter Spy Trial Underway as Former Employee Is Accused of Selling Dissidents’ Data to Saudi Prince

thewrap.com:

Bloomberg reports. Assistant U.S. Attorney Colin Sampson is arguing that Abouammo was tasked with maintaining a “shopping list of Twitter users” that Bader Al-Asaker, a close associate and “right-hand man” of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, wanted to monitor due to anti-Saudi sentiment.

Such a crime would have opened up the dissidents for abduction and torture. In return, Abouammo allegedly received $300,000 and a Hublot watch.

Bloomberg reports that human rights organizations cite Abouammo’s actions leading directly to dissidents being “held in secret prisons, suffering electric shocks, sleep deprivation, beatings and other forms of torture.”Prosecutors were shown a 2015 email Abouammo sent to Twitter’s former vice president of global media Katie Jacobs Stanton and her team in which he claimed to have brought “onboard of a new government leader.” “I have built a strong relationship with the team of HRH Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,” Abouammo wrote. “I am working with His Majesty’s team for an official announcement for Twitter now.”Abouammo and Stanton, who was his supervisor at the time, first met the prince while dining at Saudi billionaire and royal Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud’s home.

Promoting the social media platform to Saudi royals reportedly part of Abouammo’s job in finding “the world’s best content creators” and “making them successful,” Stanton said.Sampson argued Al-Asaker recruited Abouammo, a U.S.