President of the Government Pedro Sánchez finds himself in a delicate situation, after the revelations about the espionage of the President of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Pere Aragonès. The latter threatens to withdraw the support of the Catalan deputies to the government. What would become of Spanish support for Morocco’s autonomy plan for the Sahara if Pedro Sánchez left the executive?
The president of the Podemos parliamentary group in Congress, Jaume Asens, proposed on Thursday "to review the agreement with Morocco" if it is established that it is the kingdom that hacked Pedro Sanchez’s phone using the Israeli spyware Pegasus.
Morocco would have spied on Spanish officials, including the President of the Government Pedro Sanchez , the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, and the former Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha González Laya, using the Israeli software Pegasus. An investigation is underway to shed light on this case.
The Spanish authorities suspect Morocco of being behind the hacking of the phones of Pedro Sanchez and Margarita Robles using the Pegasus software, but avoid publicly stating this due to ongoing agreements with the kingdom for the reopening of borders with Ceuta and Melilla among others.
Morocco would be the author of espionage using Pegasus on more than 200 Spanish mobile phones in 2019, according to a report by the network of journalists Forbidden Stories published on Tuesday by the British newspaper The Guardian.
Despite the suspicions weighing on Morocco regarding the hacking of Pedro Sanchez’s phone using the Pegasus software, the Spanish government is keen to maintain good relations with the kingdom, but with caution.
Spain discovered a network of Moroccan secret agents in La Rioja in May 2021, the same month during which the mobile phones of Pedro Sanchez and Margarita Robles were the subject of espionage with Pegasus. A period that also coincides with the entry into Spain of Brahim Ghali, the leader of the Polisario Front.
The phones of President Pedro Sanchez and Defense Minister Margarita Robles were hacked using the Israeli software Pegasus in May and June last year. Morocco could be accused of being behind this espionage.
The Thales group, a world leader in cybersecurity , has announced the opening of a new proximity security operations center in Morocco, the first in Africa.
Amnesty International says it is ready to apologize to Morocco if the espionage allegations against the kingdom prove unfounded. So far, the international non-governmental organization has not yet, according to Morocco, provided the evidence for its accusations.
Morocco is increasingly exposed to cybercrime , which can wreak havoc and cause colossal damage. The security services have made the fight against this scourge of the 21st century a priority.
The withdrawal of the residence permit of Mohamed Toujgani , the main imam of the Al Khalil mosque in Molenbeek, and also of Moroccan origin, would be a signal to Morocco. Belgium had meanwhile denounced Moroccan interference and espionage in the context of the takeover of the Great Mosque of Brussels.