Former Twitter worker Ahmad Abouammo has been sentenced to a few and a half years in jail after being convicted of spying for Saudi Arabia, media reported.
He was sentenced within the US District Courtroom for the Northern District of California, reviews NBC Information.
Abouammo was discovered responsible by a US court docket in August this 12 months for accessing personal data within the accounts of sure Twitter customers, and offering that data to officers in Saudi Arabia.
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Abouammo and Ali Alzabarah — two Twitter staff — and Saudi nationwide Ahmed Almutairi, aka Ahmed Aljbreen, have been charged in 2019 for performing as unlawful brokers of the Saudi authorities within the US.
Abouammo was additionally charged with destroying, altering, or falsifying data in a federal investigation.
Within the trial, the prosecution argued {that a} outstanding member of Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman‘s authorities tapped Abouammo for assist investigating his enemies.
“In 2018, Saudi authorities brokers murdered and dismembered Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Publish journalist, Virginia resident and frequent critic of the regime,” The Verge reported.
Based on the grievance by the US Division of Justice, between November 2014 and Might 2015, Almutairi, 30, of Saudi Arabia, and international officers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia satisfied Abouammo and Alzabarah to make use of their worker credentials to achieve entry with out authorisation to sure nonpublic details about the people behind sure Twitter accounts.
“Particularly, representatives of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Saudi Royal Household sought the personal data of Twitter customers who had been vital of the regime,” learn the grievance.
Such personal person data included their e mail addresses, cellphone numbers, IP addresses, and dates of beginning.
This data might have been used to determine and find the Twitter customers who revealed these posts.
The grievance alleged that Abouammo was compensated for his illicit conduct, together with by way of the availability of a luxurious watch and money.
Abouammo was arrested in Seattle, Washington in November 2019, whereas Alzabarah and Almutairi are believed to be in Saudi Arabia. Federal warrants have been issued for his or her arrest.
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