Enlarge (credit: Thomas Trutschel / Contributor | Photothek)

While based in the United States from 2008 to 2014, human rights activist Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan tweeted critically about the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) to more than 160,000 followers. After he returned to Saudi Arabia in 2015, his anonymous account allegedly became unmasked by former Twitter employees who were charged with conspiring with the Saudi regime to silence dissidents. Now, his sister, Areej Al-Sadhan, is suing Twitter for allegedly violating its terms of service and giving her brother’s “identifying information to the government of Saudi Arabia” when his Twitter speech should’ve been protected.

“This puts every Twitter user at risk,” Areej alleged in an affidavit supporting her complaint. “As a result, Saudi Arabia kidnapped, tortured, imprisoned, and—through a sham trial— sentenced my brother to 20 years in prison, simply for criticizing Saudi repression on his Twitter account.”

Areej is a US citizen who alleges that she has been stalked, threatened, and targeted by the KSA ever since she began speaking out on her brother’s behalf—including on Twitter, where her account currently has nearly 15,000 followers. She filed the lawsuit on behalf of Abdulrahman in a US district court in San Francisco, claiming that her brother is an incompetent (unable to help their attorney) because he disappeared after the KSA sentenced him to prison and thus cannot defend himself. He has not been heard from since 2021, the lawsuit said.