Saudi Arabia Tortures Another Journalist to Death and May Be Using Moles in Twitter to Find Authors Critical of Saudi Regime
Saudi journalist and writer Turki Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Jasser has died after being tortured while in prison, the New Khaleej recently reported.
The news outlet cited human rights sources, claiming that Al-Jasser was arrested and tortured to death after Saudi authorities claimed he administered the Twitter account Kashkool, which disclosed rights violations committed by the Saudi authorities and the royal family.
According to the sources, Saudi authorities used moles in Twitter’s offices in Dubai to identify the journalist as the account’s administrator.
These Twitter moles are considered part of an alleged “Saudi Cyber Army,” established by Saud Al-Qahtani, a former aide of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. In a tweet, Al-Qahtani has said that the fake names on Twitter would not protect those behind the accounts from the Saudi authorities.
This also comes following reports by the NYT on October 21st that Saudi Arabia has an alleged “army of Twitter trolls” that is targeting critics such as the murdered Jamal Khashoggi.
Starting on November 4th 2017, the Crown Prince began a crackdown on “corruption.” A number of prominent members of the royal family, government ministers and businessmen were arrested. The detainees were confined at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Riyadh