Amnesty alleges Moroccan agency used spyware and physical surveillance against critics
The report alleges Morocco’s territorial surveillance agency targeted journalists, activists and others from 2017 to 2021. Moroccan authorities did not respond to the latest findings.
Amnesty International alleges Morocco’s General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance used Pegasus spyware and physical monitoring against journalists, activists and other critics between 2017 and 2021. Its report, produced with 14 media organisations and coordinated by Forbidden Stories, draws on a former agency employee’s account and evidence Amnesty says it corroborated.
The report details cases involving journalist Omar Radi, activist Fouad Abdelmoumni, lawyer Abdessadak El Bouchattaoui and journalist Hicham Mansouri. Amnesty says it checked key parts of the whistleblower’s testimony against independent sources, technical evidence and interviews with 10 people it identified as surveillance targets.
Amnesty’s analysis of Pegasus records matched 103 Moroccan phone numbers to people identified as potential targets between September and December 2017. It identified 65 as civil society members. The report does not establish that every listed phone was infected or who authorised any operation.
Radi told Al Jazeera he noticed possible signs of surveillance from 2018 to 2020 and described people monitoring his movements. His account is not, on its own, technical proof of spyware infection.
Moroccan authorities rejected similar allegations in 2020 and 2022, challenging Amnesty to provide material evidence. Amnesty says it sought a response four weeks before publication; neither it nor Al Jazeera had received one by publication. Moroccan outlet Le360 has argued that a phone number in targeting records does not prove infection or show who ordered an alleged operation.
