India, Feb. 1 -- A Saudi-born comedian who has a massive following on YouTube has won a major legal battle after a UK court ruled that Saudi Arabia was behind the hacking of his phone and a subsequent assault in London.

Ghanem al-Masarir, 45, had amassed hundreds of millions of views for his satirical videos criticising the Saudi Arabian royal family. But his online popularity also made him a target.

According to a BBC report, al-Masarir first noticed something was wrong in 2018 when his phones began behaving unusually. They had become very slow, with batteries running out quickly. Soon after, he realised he was being followed and harassed by people he believed were supporters of the Saudi regime.

Al-Masarir feared his phone was being ...