Abdulaziz was close friends and worked with Jamal Khashoggi—the Saudi dissident and journalist for "The Washington Post"—on various initiatives after Khashoggi left the kingdom to live in exile in 2017. In 2018 Abdulaziz's phone was hacked and his conversations with Khashoggi were intercepted. Khashoggi was later assassinated by Saudi Arabia. Abdulaziz's two brothers and several friends are imprisoned in their homes in Saudi Arabia because of their links to him.