Moroccan intelligence uses surveillance to ‘silence’ journalists: Amnesty 

Amnesty International has denounced Morocco’s intelligence agency for using spyware, hidden microphones and pre-infected phones in the “unlawful surveillance” of journalists and human rights defenders.

Moroccan authorities host an “expansive and vast” surveillance apparatus that they use to “ultimately silence journalists, activists and other critical voices”, the rights NGO said in a report published on Thursday.

The report, Inside Morocco’s surveillance machine, is based on the testimony of a former employee of the Moroccan domestic intelligence service (DGST), as well as leaked documents and journalistic investigations.

NGOs, including Amnesty, have for years accused Morocco of using Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli NSO Group, to monitor journalists, activists and political figures.

Rabat has repeatedly denied using spyware against its citizens. Amnesty said it wrote to Moroccan authorities four weeks before publication and received no response. Al Jazeera could not immediately reach Moroccan officials for comment.

In its report, Amnesty identified the DGST as the body responsible for deploying Pegasus in Morocco, saying the agency used the spyware against activists and journalists between 2017 and 2021.

Amnesty said Moroccan authorities combined “high-tech tools” like Pegasus with more traditional techniques like tailing and wiretapping.

“People are secretly videoed and audio recorded in detention, in their own offices and cars, and even in their own bedrooms,” the report says, citing the whistleblower.

“Phone calls are systematically recorded and spied upon,” and “shops sell mobile phones pre-infected with malware by DGST agents”.

The personal data collected on activists and human rights defenders is used to fuel public smear campaigns against them, according to the NGO.

The whistleblower said the agency infected internet cafes with remote-controlled spyware, and that devices were physically compromised at airports. He added that microphones were hidden in the light fixtures of the apartment of journalist Omar Radi, who was later imprisoned.

Amnesty said it matched 103 Moroccan phone numbers entered into the Pegasus system between September and December 2017 to specific individuals. Of these, 65 were civil society members, including 34 human rights defenders and 22 journalists and media workers. Another 25 were political figures or officials, and five were diplomats or representatives of international organisations.

“These records show the phone numbers of prominent human rights defenders and journalists were among the first to be entered into the Pegasus system,” said Donncha O Cearbhaill, head of Amnesty’s Security Lab.

Amnesty said it also found evidence of spyware delivered over the state-owned Maroc Telecom network, and that Morocco bought tools from companies based in Israel, the European Union and the United States.

“Morocco has wholly embraced techno-authoritarian practices,” Amnesty Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said.

Amnesty called on Morocco to end the surveillance and on states to halt spyware exports to the country until human rights safeguards are in place.

The investigation was part of a collaboration with 14 media organisations coordinated by Forbidden Stories.