Herzliya, Israel - Female journalists across the Middle East have had their phones hacked by conservative government operatives intent on silencing their liberal views by slandering or blackmailing them.

It's a story out of a nightmare. Private photos taken on a phone and stored securely, never uploaded to the internet, were suddenly plastered across the internet.

For several female journalists in the Middle East, these photos were accompanied with false captions, NBC News reported.

One poolside bikini shot of Al-Jazeera journalist Ghada Oueiss was labeled as being taken during an intimate rendezvous with a boss.

For a female journalist in a Western country, the lie would be easier to fight or ignore altogether. But Oueiss is Lebanese and lives in a very conservative culture where women could be persecuted or even killed for wearing a revealing swimsuit.

The post resulted in Oueiss being the target of countless hate-filled messages from all over the world, calling her horrific names and threatening her.

"I am an independent, liberal woman and that provokes a misogynistic regime," Oueiss said.

A digital forensic expert analyzed her phone and verified that it had been hacked using Pegasus spyware sold by NSO Group. It was determined that the perpetrators were members of the Saudi regime that Oueiss had previously criticized in her reporting.

But the regime's attempt to shame her did not silence her.

Though traumatized and feeling violated, Oueiss filed a lawsuit against the crown prince of Saudi Arabia as well as the United Arab Emirates ruler Mohamed bin Zayed and two other Florida-based Twitter users.

Apple has released a temporary fix against the Pegasus hacks, and NSO has said they have blocked more governments from using their software.

Human rights activists are currently pushing governments to issue a moratorium on the use and sale of programs like Pegasus.