The U.S. Justice Department has charged two former Twitter employees of spying on users on behalf of Saudi Arabia.
The charges unsealed in a San Francisco court said Ali Alzabarah and Ahmad Abouammo used their employee credentials to access information about specific Twitter users.
Abouammo, a U.S. citizen, was arrested Tuesday. Alzabarah, a Saudi citizen, remains at large.
A third person, Saudi citizen Ahmed Almutairi, is accused of spying and acting as an intermediary between the Twitter workers and Saudi officials.
Prosecutors said Abouammo falsified documents and lied to FBI agents.
Alzabarah is accused of accessing the personal data of more than 6,000 Twitter users in 2015, including a Saudi national who was a friend of Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post journalist allegedly slain in October 2018 by men with ties to Saudi government officials.
Alzabarah and Almutairi are both believed to be in Saudi Arabia.
