Morocco to Retaliate Against 'Pegasus' Accusation in Courts

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Morocco announced today that it will resort to a "judicial approach" following new media reports that indicate Moroccan intelligence's possible involvement in the use of the "Pegasus" spyware to target the smartphones of public figures, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Morrocan King Mohammed VI.

A government statement reads, "Strong of its right and convinced of the validity of its position, the Kingdom has opted for a judicial approach, in Morocco and internationally against any party taking into account these false allegations."

The statement also re-emphasized Morocco's condemnation of "the persistent false, massive and malicious media campaign, evoking an alleged infiltration of the telephone devices of several national and foreign public figures through a computer software."

Radio France said on Tuesday that Moroccan King Mohammed VI and his entourage were on a "list of potential targets" of Pegasus.

Paris-based Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International had obtained a list of 50,000 numbers chosen by customers of Israeli NSO since 2016 as potential spyware targets. The two organizations sent them to a group of 17 media outlets that leaked the story on Sunday, including Radio France and Le Monde.

Le Monde stated that the phones of French President Emmanuel Macron and former Prime Minister Édouard Philippe were hacked by Pegasus at the behest of Moroccan intelligence services, clarifying that this happened in 2019.

Fourteen ministers in the French government were also spied on. The paper also pointed out that it is not yet known whether the Moroccon intelligence services were successful in spying on the phone of the President and the rest of the cabinet.