Morocco Denies Using Pegasus Spyware to Target French President
Morocco’s government is denying reports that the country’s security forces may have used spyware made by Israel’s NSO Group to eavesdrop on the cellphones of France’s president and other public figures.
On Wednesday, the public prosecutor’s office ordered an investigation into what it called false allegations that Moroccan security services used NSO malware to spy on activists, journalists, and politicians in multiple countries.
France’s prime minister said Wednesday that multiple investigations were under way into any wrongdoing.
Morocco’s government had lashed out in a statement late Tuesday at a global media consortium investigating the suspected widespread use of NSO’s Pegasus spyware to target journalists, human rights activists, and politicians in multiple countries. The government threatened unspecified legal action.
French newspaper Le Monde, a member of the consortium, reported that the cellphones of President Emmanuel Macron and 15 then-members of the French government may have been among potential targets in 2019 of surveillance by Pegasus spyware on behalf of a Moroccan security agency.
French public broadcaster Radio France reported that the phones of Moroccan King Mohammed VI and members of his entourage were also among potential targets.
