A human rights activist will have his day in UK court to pursue a legal case against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after his phone was hacked with Israeli spyware.

Pro-democracy campaigner Yahya Assiri will be able to file a legal claim against Saudi Arabia after he alleged the government used Israeli-developed surveillance technology on his mobile device.

This appears to be the fist case concerning the Israeli-made spyware QuaDream to reach the High Court in London.

Yahya Assiri is the founding member of the Saudi opposition National Assembly Party, and has worked with high-profile opponents of the Saudi royal regime including Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist murdered in 2018 in a Saudi consulate, and Abdullah Hamid Ali al-Hamid, a Saudi poet and activist who died while being detained in 2020.

Assiri is also the founder of the human rights organisation ALQST, which works to defend human rights in Saudi Arabia, and previously served as the capital of the Royal Saudi Airforce before coming to the UK and claiming asylum in 2014.

According to Assiri, he clicked on a link sent to his iPhone via text in 2018, and his phone froze as a result.

The lawsuit claims that between 2018 and 2020, Assiri’s mobile device was targeted and infected by Pegasus and QuaDream spyware – both Israeli-made. This has been backed up by independent analysis by The Citizen Lab, a Canadian interdisciplinary laboratory.

Pegasus, which was developed by NSO Group, an Israeli company, and QuaDream, were allegedly used by Saudi authorities to extract and monitor sensitive data on Assiri’s devices.

Both tools employ a zero-click exploit to hack targeted devices, and the spyware potentially enabled the Saudi government to access a wide range of data, including text messages, calls, location information, photos, and files.

The spyware also has the ability to intercept voice calls, activate device microphones to record ambient sounds, take photos, and track movements.

The initial text which sparked the concerns was analysed by Amnesty International and The Citizen Lab, which revealed that it was hosted on a server linked to Pegasus spyware, and was associated with Saudi Arabia.

A replacement phone acquired by Assiri in 2018 was also compromised, this time allegedly by QuaDream.

The time of the attack coincides with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, which Assiri protested heavily, advocating for sanctions and boycotts against Saudi officials.

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According to the human rights activist, he stored vast amounts of sensitive and confidential data on his iPhone, including court documents, contact details, and ID documents of human rights defenders.

“I am fully aware that the authorities will want to target me,” Assiri said.

“However, it is outrageous for them also to target individuals such as the victims of rights abuses and their families in Saudi Arabia simply because these people have been in contact with me.

“We have no idea how the authorities might use the information found on my device against them.”

While this is the first case brought over QuaDream to the UK, this is Assiri’s second personal case brought up against Saudi Arabia in the UK concerning the use of Pegasus spyware.

There is currently a separate ongoing investigation by the Metropolitan Police over complaints by other activists that Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are targeting them with spyware.

The separate case refers to Pegasus spyware, which has been connected to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, as well as being implicated in attacks against UK government networks and even the Prime Minister’s office.