The espionage allegations against Morocco continue to provoke reactions. The former head of government, Abdelilah Benkirane, has defended his country and Abdellatif Hammouchi, director general of national security, who is also director general of territorial surveillance (DGST).
Chakib Benmoussa, Morocco’s ambassador to France, assures that his country did not spy on French President Emmanuel Macron or former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe or members of the government. According to the revelations of the investigation by Forbidden Stories and its partners, the kingdom is accused of having targeted the numbers of journalists, activists and personalities using the Israeli software Pegasus.
While Morocco has opened a judicial investigation into the espionage allegations and filed a complaint in Paris, the Authenticity and Modernity Party (PAM) has summoned two ministers before Parliament.
Morocco is accused of having targeted the phone numbers of journalists, activists and French personalities, including President Emmanuel Macron, using the Israeli Pegasus software. Will this affair strain relations between Morocco and France?
The Pegasus affair in which some organizations have made serious accusations of espionage against Morocco continues to be controversial. Mohamed Fizazi , one of the most media-savvy Salafist leaders in Morocco , said that "it is up to the media consortium to prove in accordance with the law the facts necessary for the success of its claims against Morocco".
Accused of having wiretapped foreign personalities and journalists, Morocco has hired lawyer Olivier Baratelli, mandated to file a [complaint against Amnesty International and Forbbiden Stories]. On Thursday evening on BFM TV, the latter categorically stated that "Morocco has never had any contractual or commercial ties with the NSO company", the supplier of the Pegasus spyware.
Algeria, one of the countries affected by the Israeli Pegasus software, reacted to the espionage accusations against [Morocco]. The eastern neighbor "vigorously condemns this inadmissible systematic violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms."
[Nasser Bourita], Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Residing Abroad, reacted to the alleged infiltration of the phones of several national and foreign public figures through the Israeli Pegasus software. He hammers that any person or organization making accusations against Morocco will have to provide proof, or assume its slanderous denunciation before the courts.
Morocco has decided to file a defamation lawsuit in Paris against Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories, the source of the espionage allegations against the kingdom.
The French President Emmanuel Macron changed one of his phone numbers after learning that it may have been infiltrated by the Pegasus spyware.
French President Emmanuel Macron convened an "exceptional defense council dedicated to the Pegasus affair and the issue of cybersecurity" this Thursday, July 22nd. The announcement was made by Gabriel Attal, the government spokesman.
Morocco is the victim of a media campaign aimed at tarnishing its image. This is what the president of the France-Morocco friendship group in the French Senate, Christian Cambon, said after the kingdom was accused of having infiltrated the phones of Moroccan and foreign public figures, including high-ranking French officials, via the Pegasus spyware.