Palestinian-born activist in Norway details his Saudi-related work before threat

An Palestinian-born activist living in Norway says he’s been given protection by two Norwegian entities after the CIA informed officials of an unspecified threat against him.

Iyad el-Baghdadi, an outspoken commentator on Arab affairs on Twitter, tells reporters in Norway about Saudi-related projects he’d been working on that might have made him a target of Saudi Arabia.

He says he worked without pay or contract with a team of investigators hired by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos looking into a blackmail case against the US billionaire, who also owns The Washington Post.

El-Baghdadi says he’s also helming a project to document Saudi attempts to influence Arabic political commentary on Twitter. The project was originally spearheaded by Jamal Khashoggi before he was slain by Saudi agents last year.

— AP