On Tuesday, the US Department of Justice expanded its charges in a Saudi espionage case on Twitter, to include fraud, money laundering, forgery, and tampering with evidence.
US courts are hearing cases about the involvement of Saudi authorities and members of the ruling family in spying on thousands of Twitter users, including Saudi dissidents.
The indictment presented by the Ministry to the court included 3 names: the two Saudis, Ali al-Zubara and Ahmad al-Mutairi, also known as Ahmad al-Jibreen, alongside Ahmad Abu Amo, an American of Lebanese descent.
Ahmed Al-Mutairi is the assistant director of the Saudi Crown Prince's office. The indictment provided that the accused provided Al-Mutairi with special information; Such as birth dates, phone numbers, email addresses, and Internet Protocol addresses; And that in exchange for gifts, funds and promises of official positions.
The indictment included providing new evidence and documentation that Al-Mutairi launched a company as a front for transmitting information. In addition to information provided by the defendants - including two Saudis who worked on Twitter - to the Saudi authorities to suppress dissidents.
And a while ago, the issue of Saudi espionage on Twitter has been interacting in the United States, and this is the first case in which Saudi Arabia has been accused of spying inside America.
Earlier, an indictment revealed that the defendants were lying to the FBI investigator, and that they were not aware that their movements, contacts, and financial dealings were being closely monitored.
The prosecutor in the case, David Anderson, said that "the criminal complaint accuses Saudi elements of searching the internal systems of Twitter, in order to obtain personal information about Saudi dissidents and thousands of Twitter users."