Twitter Spy Trial Keeps Jury in Dark on Saudi Torture Claims
- Areej Al-Sadhan’s testimony was curtailed by judge’s ruling
- Al-Sadhan says her brother was kidnapped, tortured for posts
Photographer: Michael Nagle/Bloomberg
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When Areej Al-Sadhan testified in the trial of a former Twitter Inc. employee who allegedly spied on her brother for Saudi Arabia, there was much to the story she couldn’t say.
She wasn’t allowed to say that Saudi secret police went on to abduct her brother, Abdulrahman Al-Sadhan, over his social media posts and that the Kingdom sentenced him to 20 years in prison. That he has been tortured with sleep deprivation and electric shocks. That his captors have smashed his fingers and beaten him so severely that he’d been sent to an intensive care unit.