Former Twitter staff sentenced to over three years for spying in US for Saudi Arabia

Incident brings to light how Twitter can be a valuable source of information for foreign government agents

A former Twitter employee who was previously found guilty of spying in the US on behalf of the Saudi Royal family has been convicted to over three years in prison.

Twitter’s former media partnership manager for the Middle East region, Ahmad Abouammo – a dual US-Lebanese citizen – was found guilty on six counts in August by a San Francisco federal court for money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on Wednesday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.