Bahrain's Legal Immunity Challenge in UK Spyware Case

Bahrain cannot claim state immunity to block a UK lawsuit alleging its government hacked dissidents' laptops with spyware. The UK's Supreme Court ruled against Bahrain in a case brought by Saeed Shehabi and Moosa Mohammed, who say their computers were infected with FinSpy to monitor their work with political prisoners.

The UK's Supreme Court has ruled by a majority that Bahrain cannot invoke state immunity in a British lawsuit where two dissidents claim the Gulf kingdom hacked their laptops with spyware.

Saeed Shehabi and Moosa Mohammed, living in the UK, alleged that their computers were infected with FinSpy around 2011 to monitor their activities involving political prisoners.

The lawsuit, filed at London's High Court in 2020, seeks reparations for 'psychiatric harm.' Bahrain, which denies the allegations, has long attempted to claim state immunity to fend off the suit.