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Saudi women’s rights activist sues three ex-US intel operatives over hacking for UAE (The Guardian)
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 which, 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.
New rules on UK arms trade make it ‘easier’ to sideline human rights (The Guardian)
The government has brought in new rules for the arms trade that experts fear will make it easier to ignore human rights concerns when deciding whether to allow international sales of UK-made weapons. The revisedStrategic Export Licensing Criteria could also make it harder for critics to challenge any deal in court, warned Martin Butcher, policy adviser on conflict and arms for Oxfam, who said the changes “would reduce accountability and transparency and will lead to more UK arms being used to commit war crimes and other abuses.”
Saudi Arabia Faces Accusations of ‘Sportswashing.’ For Young Saudis, It’s a Chance to Enjoy New Freedoms (Time)
The sense of the world opening up has—at least for many Saudis—injected a palpable excitement and a giddy sense of newness. In numerous interviews with TIME in the kingdom over the past week, young Saudis—nearly 70% of Saudi Arabia’s 34.8 million is younger than 35—said that their lives had markedly changed during the past three years, and that they were thrilled they could finally cut loose, after decades of cultural isolation and suffocating religiosity. Saudi Arabia has changed a lot in the past four years, with rules forbidding women to travel without a male relative’s permission, to work in public-facing jobs, to leave their heads uncovered and to drive, have all been scrapped. While Saudi Arabia has been accused of ‘sportswashing’ it’s human rights abuses, according to the human rights community, opening the country up to this sort of attention is also a way to bring further change, especially for the younger generations.
Saudi film festival is a ‘whitewash’ by authorities, say critics (The Guardian)
Saudi Arabia has opened its first international film festival amid accusations that the government is using culture to whitewash its poor human rights record, just days after similar controversy shadowed its first time hosting a Formula One race. The Red Sea festival attracted international stars including Hilary Swank, Clive Owen, and Vincent Cassel. Saudi Arabia presented it as a moment of change for a country that only lifted a ban on cinemas four years ago, a position embraced by some of those walking the red carpet. “A film festival without freedom of expression quickly descends into propaganda,” said Madawi Al-Rasheed, a professor at LSE and prominent critic of the Saudi government. “Sport and art will never be a substitute for real reform that includes civil and political rights. International films are used as a cover for a sinister scenario of detentions, beheadings and murder by a regime that is desperate to break its isolation after it committed crimes in Yemen and against its own citizens.”
Saudi Human Rights Activist, Represented by EFF, Sues Spyware Maker DarkMatter For Violating U.S. Anti-Hacking and International Human Rights Laws (EFF)
Portland, Oregon—The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a lawsuit today on behalf of prominent Saudi human rights activist Loujain al-Hathloul against spying software maker DarkMatter Group and three of its former executives for illegally hacking her iPhone to secretly track her communications and whereabouts. Al-Hathloul is among the victims of an illegal spying program created and run by former U.S. intelligence operatives, including the three defendants named in the lawsuit, who worked for a U.S. company hired by United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the wake of the Arab Spring protests to identify and monitor activists, journalists and rival foreign leaders.
   
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