Saudi Dissident Journalist Killed Under Torture in Prison
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Saudi journalist and writer Turki Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Jasser have reportedly been tortured to death in prison after he disclosed rights violations committed by the Saudi authorities and royal family in his Twitter account.
According to reports, 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 royal family.
The sources said that the authorities identified Al-Jasser as the admin using spies in Twitter’s regional office located in Dubai. He was arrested in March.
According to the sources, these spies are considered part of the Saudi Cyber Army which was established by Saud Al-Qahtani, the former aide of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad 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, Middle East Monitor reported.
Saudis used a "troll farm" in Riyadh to target dissidents opposed to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the online campaign, the New York Times reported on Saturday.
The New York Times claimed that it was suspected Saudi Arabia embedded a spy in Twitter to monitor accounts that are critical of Riyadh.
Trolls in Riyadh then targeted the critics in a campaign of harassment that lasted several hours.
Earlier this week, Twitter suspended a number of accounts that were said to be operated by a Saudi bot as part of a disinformation campaign.
Khashoggi was among the dissidents who were targeted by the campaign that was said to have been ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to muzzle critics.
