There are few legal precedents and should the case reach court it will shine an uncomfortable spotlight on Riyadh’s alleged campaign of harassment of its critics.

Not only that, it could broaden the scope of liability for cyber attacks.

“He (MBS) has been running a campaign to silence critics and he has been successful,” Mr Masarir said. “For years it has seemed like the regime could not be touched by the legal system but finally I have the opportunity to hold them to account."

Despite the reforms taking place under MBS, including women’s right to drive, the loosening of male guardianship restrictions and the opening up to tourism, he claims the kingdom has never been more repressive.

“I speak to people inside Saudi and they tell me ‘we are like North Korea,’” he said. “The only difference is we have money and a good relationship with America and the West.”

Mr Masarir, who has long been vocal of his government, arrived in the UK in 2003 to take up a place on the University of Portsmouth's computer science course. When his student visa ran out he applied for political asylum in 2012, though it would not be granted until 2018: a delay, he claims, that was down to Saudi pressure on the British government.

He has taken a break from filming "The Ghanem Show" but still worries about his safety in the UK, pointing to his host country’s close relationship with the kingdom.

The two are important trade partners. The British government even licensed the sale of £600 million worth of military equipment to Saudi six months after the murder of Mr Khashoggi.

The hacking attempts on Mr Masarir have not stopped either. Just minutes before our interview he received prompts from Google to change his email passwords, suggesting someone was trying to access his accounts.

He also continues to be targeted by an army of pro-Saudi government “bots” on Twitter, which send him hundreds of messages a day intended to intimidate him.

But Mr Masarir is determined to not let them succeed, publishing his first op-ed in the Washington Post last week. “(At first) I kept my opposition to the Saudi regime quiet, but as time passed I felt the need to speak up for those who still suffered,” he told the Post’s readers.

“It felt good to speak out,” he said of the column this week, “and I’ve missed writing, but I don’t know yet whether it can be a regular gig.”