Amnesty: Morocco Bugged Phones, Apartments to 'Silence' Journalists
The Facts
- Moroccan authorities operated an expansive surveillance apparatus combining spyware, hidden microphones and wiretapping to monitor journalists, activists and other critical voices, according to an Amnesty International report published Thursday.
- The report, titled "We start with the verdict: Inside Morocco's surveillance machine," draws on testimony from a former employee of the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST), leaked documents, forensic analysis and journalistic investigations.
- Amnesty said the DGST was responsible for deploying Pegasus spyware, developed by Israel's NSO Group, against activists and journalists between 2017 and 2021. Morocco has repeatedly denied using spyware against its citizens.
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The Spin
Government-critical narrative
This report is unsurprising given Morocco's years-long relationship with Pegasus, the Israeli government and other corrupt allies in the Middle East. Moroccan intelligence, through hidden private intermediaries in the UAE, has not only purchased NSO spyware, but met with employees personally to receive training on how to conduct illegal surveillance. Journalism is dead in Morocco and won't be revived until these nefarious networks are dismantled.
Pro-government narrative
One anonymous witness and recycled allegations do not add up to proof, and no court has ever validated these claims. Several European governments have bought the same spyware and some, such as France, have even built their own, yet somehow only Morocco gets a 126-page indictment and a wave of breathless coverage. That selectivity looks less like human rights work and more like a campaign against a rising power.
