British court dismisses Bahrain’s bid to block activists’ spyware lawsuit

Ruling establishes that countries utilizing spyware connected radical successful the UK tin beryllium sued.

Britain’s Supreme Court has dismissed a bid by Bahrain to assertion authorities immunity to adjacent down a spyware suit filed by 2 dissidents.

The ruling, handed down connected Monday by a constrictive 3-2 majority, sets a important precedent, confirming that overseas states tin beryllium sued successful UK courts implicit the distant surveillance of individuals successful Britain, adjacent erstwhile the hacking itself was directed from abroad.

Saeed Shehabi, a writer and laminitis of a Bahraini governmental enactment that opposes the Khalifa royal family’s rule, and Moosa Mohammed, a Bahraini refugee, accused the Bahraini authorities of infecting their computers successful 2011 with spyware known arsenic FinSpy, susceptible of logging keystrokes, tracking locations and monitoring their activities remotely.

Both men, who unrecorded successful the UK, sued successful London’s High Court successful 2020, seeking damages for “psychiatric harm”.

Bahrain denied the hacking and argued the alleged acts took spot extracurricular UK jurisdiction, entitling it to immunity.

The High Court of Justice successful London rejected that statement successful 2023 successful a determination upheld by the Court of Appeal the pursuing year, prompting Bahrain’s last entreaty to the Supreme Court.

In Monday’s ruling, the tribunal recovered that the alleged surveillance counted arsenic an enactment carried retired successful the UK, claiming the claimants and their computers were located successful Britain erstwhile the spyware allegedly took effect, opening the mode for the lawsuit to proceed to trial.

The judgement is portion of a increasing assemblage of litigation investigating whether states and surveillance firms tin beryllium held liable successful Western courts for spyware deployed against critics overseas aft akin cases, including WhatsApp’s ongoing suit successful the United States against the NSO Group implicit Pegasus spyware.

Rights groups person agelong accused Bahrain of surveilling dissidents and journalists.