Dissidents who support Bahraini political prisoners say that spyware was installed on their laptops.
Two dissidents who claim the Bahraini government used spyware to hack their laptops have filed a lawsuit in the United Kingdom, and the High Court in London has ruled that Bahrain cannot use state immunity to prevent that action.
The decision was made on Wednesday in response to claims made by Saeed Shehabi and Moosa Mohammed that the kingdom had infected their laptops with the surveillance programme “FinSpy,” which allowed authorities to access their files, control their laptops, and listen in on their communications.
They added that the software enables users to turn on microphones and cameras on electronic devices for live surveillance and location tracking.
Shehabi and Mohammed, who both live in the UK, have said Bahrain infected their laptops with FinSpy in around 2011, which allowed the kingdom to monitor their work with political prisoners in Bahrain, and are seeking damages for psychiatric harm.
Bahrain has denied hacking Shehabi and Mohammed’s laptops and said they have provided no evidence of how their computers were alleged to have been infected.
The kingdom had argued it was entitled to state immunity because any alleged hacking did not take place in the UK and that the psychiatric injuries claimed did not amount to personal injuries, for which there is an exception to state immunity in English law.
But Judge Julian Knowles on Wednesday dismissed Bahrain’s application, meaning Shehabi and Mohammed’s case can proceed in London.
“This decision demonstrates that we can prevail in our fight for justice and that our voices will not be muzzled by the Bahraini regime’s reprisals or intimidation,” Mohammed said in a written statement.