"Saudi Arabia ordered to pay £3m to UK dissident targeted with Pegasus spyware" 27 January 2026

A judge has ordered the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to pay compensation of £3m to a London-based dissident who was subject to “grossly intrusive” surveillance after spyware was installed on his mobile phone.

The UK’s High Court accepted in a ruling yesterday that the Saudi regime had infected human rights activist Ghanem Al-Masarir’s mobile phone with Pegasus spyware supplied by Israeli tech company NSO Group...

...The court heard that the Kingdom had subjected Al-Masarir to a campaign of intimidation, surveillance and a physical attack in the UK, which had a catastrophic effect on his life and left him unable to work or perform day-to-day activities.

Al-Masarir, 45, who has lived in the UK since 2003 and was granted asylum in 2018, produced satirical videos on human rights issues, which he shared on YouTube, attracting 350 million views...

...Two months after his phones were infected, Al-Masarir was followed by two men, one of whom was wearing an earpiece. One of them shouted at him, making references to the ruling Saudi royal family. The man then punched Al-Masarir in the face and attacked him until a passerby intervened...

...The judge, Justice Pushpinder Saini, said he was satisfied that Al-Masarir had been subject to acts of intimidation between 2015 and 2019, and inferred that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or its agents were responsible.

“In my judgment, there is a compelling basis for concluding that the claimant’s iPhones were hacked by Pegasus spyware, which resulted in the exfiltration of data from those mobile phones, and that this conduct was directed or authorised by the KSA or agents acting on its behalf,” the judge stated...

...The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia bought Pegasus in 2017 after Saudi intelligence officials met with representatives of the Israeli firm NSO, which developed the spyware.

NSO has refused to confirm or deny whether it made the sale...