The Kingdom of Bahrain cannot claim sovereign immunity to legal action brought by two Bahraini dissidents who accuse it of infecting their computers with German-made spyware, the UK’s Supreme Court has ruled.
The dissidents, Saeed Shehabi and Moosa Mohammed allege that the Kingdom of Bahrain infected their computers with FinFisher spyware while they were living in London in 2011.
The Supreme Court’s decision is expected to open the way for further legal action against countries that target people living in the UK with surveillance software, said Ida Aduwa, solicitor at law firm Leigh Day which brought the case.
“This ruling sends a clear message to overseas states that use intrusive surveillance technology against peaceful political activists and others that they will face justice in the courts,” she said.
Court rejects sovereign immunity
The Kingdom of Bahrain claimed that under the State Immunity Act 1978, sovereign states had immunity in cases where the perpetrators, or some of the acts, causing personal injury were not located in the UK.
But the Supreme Court, with a majority of 3 to 2, found that modern technology enables surveillance to be carried out remotely and that even if a foreign state conducted a surveillance operation from outside the UK, it would still involve an infringement of UK territorial sovereignty.
Shehabi, 71, a journalist and founder of the Bahraini opposition party Al Wefaq, and Mohammed, a pro-democracy activist, allege that their laptops were infected in September 2011 with malicious surveillance software known as FinSpy, made by the Gamma group.
They claim that the attacks allowed Bahraini authorities to collect information from their laptops, including messages, emails, calendar records, contact lists, browsing history, photos, databases, documents and video.
The software also enabled Bahrain to track the location of their laptops and covertly eavesdrop on conversations by using the laptop’s microphones and cameras.
The activists learned that their computers had been hacked in 2014 when WikiLeaks published documents about Bahrain’s use of FinSpy and a research and advocacy organisation, Bahrain Watch, identified them as victims of hacking.
Bahrain opposition to Shehabi and Mohammed
The Bahraini government has repeatedly denounced Shehabi – who has lived in the UK since 1973 and gained British citizenship in 2002 – over his political activism. In 2009 his home in the UK was set on fire shortly after two associates who had campaigned against the Bahraini government were beaten up outside Euston station.
Mohammed, 45, a photographer and videographer and human rights activist, was repeatedly arrested, detained, tortured and mistreated by the police after taking part in protests in Bahrain. He fled to the UK in 2006 as a refugee and has since been granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
The Bahraini government has publicly condemned him for helping to organise protests in the UK and publishing accounts of human rights abuses in the Kingdom.
In 2021, the Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs included Shehabi and Mohammed on a list of Bahraini nationals who have had their Bahraini citizenship revoked.
Bahrain ‘can no longer hide’
Speaking after the verdict, Shehabi said that the judgment means the Bahraini regime can no longer hide behind state immunity.
“This is not just a victory for us, but for everyone targeted by authoritarian states beyond their own borders. The court’s message is clear: states that abuse people on British soil will be held accountable,” he added.
Mohammed said that the verdict changed the balance of power between Bahrain and dissidents.
“Since I was a teenager, the Bahraini regime has tortured, imprisoned and hunted me. Even after I found safety in the UK, they pursued me across borders,” he said.
Martyn Day, senior partner of law firm Leigh Day, which represented Shehabi and Mohammed, said the “notion that foreign governments can allegedly use sophisticated spyware to interfere with computers and mobile phones of people living in this country is an outrage.”
The law firm has previously represented people impacted by spyware from Rwanda, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.
In the verdict today, Lord Lloyd-Jones, Lord Hamblen and Lady Simler found in favour of the two claimants. Lord Leggatt and Lord Burrows gave dissenting verdicts.
