New Pegasus spyware revelations as French PM visits Morocco
An investigation says Moroccan intelligence used Pegasus against French ministers and Macron’s phone, while NSO representatives discussed sales worth 60 to 80 million.
- A Moroccan intelligence insider known as 'Safir' revealed the government's use of Israeli-manufactured Pegasus spyware to monitor dissidents and foreign officials, according to an investigation published Thursday by Forbidden Stories, Amnesty, and 13 media organizations.
- In 2017, representatives from the Israel-based NSO Group presented Pegasus at the 'FSSYS villa' in Rabat to Morocco's internal security agency, the DGST; Safir suggested the costly software was financed by the UAE.
- Targeting lists included French ministers and Spanish police officials; investigators found traces on phones of President Emmanuel Macron and more than 200 Spanish mobile numbers, amid claims the spyware enables violations on a "massive scale."
- Morocco has "firmly rejected" the allegations and demanded evidence, while French officials face renewed scrutiny regarding the reported surveillance of Macron, which Rabat continues to deny.
- Reports indicate deployment largely ceased after 2021, coinciding with the US placing NSO Group on a blacklist, which reportedly prompted Israel to ban exporting cyber-technology to countries including Morocco.
36 Articles
36 Articles
Moroccan authorities attempted to spy on journalists, including a Dutch correspondent, with the help of hacking software. This is reported by the Spanish newspaper El Confidencial, based on a list it has obtained containing mobile numbers that the Moroccan intelligence service tried to hack between 2018 and 2019.
The newspaper El Confidencial has obtained a list of 250 devices that the Moroccan secret service allegedly targeted. It is unclear whether the phones were actually hacked. According to Amnesty, a forensic report is usually required for that.
Moroccan whistleblower reveals how Rabat used Israel's Pegasus spyware for surveillance
Moroccan whistleblower reveals how Rabat used Israel's Pegasus spyware for surveillance Submitted by MEE staff on Fri, 07/17/2026 - 13:58 Testimony from intelligence insider and leaked records show extensive use of spyware against dissidents and foreign officials Morocco's then interior minister, Abdelouafi Laftit (left), receives his Spanish counterpart, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, during his official visit to Rabat on 20 November 2020 (Fade…
Five years after the Pegasus scandal, a new investigation published on July 16, 2026, by the Forbidden Stories consortium has reignited the affair by revealing that France had considered acquiring the Israeli spyware at the very moment when ministers were allegedly targeted. While French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was on an official visit to Morocco, a country implicated as early as 2021 for the alleged use of Pegasus against several Frenc…
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