Anchor for Al Jazeera Arabic Ghada Oueiss has filed a lawsuit against the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, and some other officials. She has accused them all of targeting her in a 'hacking and leaking' operation, and also threatening her life, according to a news report on the Al-Quds Al-Arabi website.
Ghada, who has filed the lawsuit in Florida's southern region, has revealed that the Saudi Crown Prince (better known as MBS), and some Saudi, Emirati and US officials, carried out an operation that's aim was to undermine her personality along with her career as a journalist. The reason the operation was carried out was that Oueiss often made critical statements and published reports that criticised both the Saudi and the Emirati governments.
In her tweet thread, Ghada commented:
"Six months ago, the Crown Princes of Saudi Arabia and the UAE believed they could silence me by hacking my phone, stealing my private pictures and spreading them with false misogynistic claims."
"The crown princes have ruled with the belief that with the right price or fear tactic they could buy or scare anyone from speaking up. They believed they were untouchable and could get a free pass for their authoritarian reigns.
"It is time to remind the crown princes, actions have consequences. Over the past months, I have seen others take this responsibility forward, Saad Al Jabri & Hatice Cengiz have started the fight to remind these crown princes their they are not untouchable.
"Today I am joining the fight, filing my own lawsuit against the crown princes & their henchmen. It's time the world showed them & all authoritarian leaders, they are not immune nor above international law.
"This case is not just a fight for me it’s a fight for all who can't speak up against injustices. A fight to ensure no female journalist has to experience what myself, Rana Ayoub, Patricia compos Mella and countless others have had to. To set an example and stop future injustices."
In the lawsuit filed by Ghada, using the Miami-based law firm Marcus Neiman Rashbaum & Pineiro (MNR) LLP, it has been mentioned that after Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered at the Saudi Arabian Consulate in Istanbul, Ghada reported on the case consistently and that's why the Saudis started paying attention to her. The lawsuit further mentions that Ghada was the target of a “premeditated attack, intended to destroy her reputation, personal life, and career,” which was a “joint and coordinated effort” by the Saudi Arabian and UAE governments, according to The Hill.
In August, Ghada had mentioned the 'hacking and leaking' attack on her in an opinion article in the Washington Post. In the article, she mentioned how she was being harassed and cyberbullied in a coordinated campaign on social media. Her personal pictures were stolen from her phone, photoshopped and posted on Twitter with offensive, misogynistic and false claims that the photos were taken at the private residence of Al Jazeera Media Network’s Qatari chairman, Sheikh Hamad Bin Thamer Al-Thani. The photoshopped pictures were tweeted more than 40,000 times.
Sources: Al-Quds Al-Arabi; The Hill; Washington Post
Cover image credit: Al-Quds Al-Arabi; The Hill; Washington Post
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