Rabat (AFP)
Moroccan authorities "categorically refuted" Friday Amnesty International's "baseless allegations" that Morocco had hacked a journalist's phone with spyware.
In a statement, the authorities of the kingdom called on the NGO to "substantiate" its report "with evidence". The director of Amnesty in Morocco was summoned and asked to provide this evidence "as soon as possible," the source said.
Amnesty International said in its report on Monday that the phone of Omar Radi, a Moroccan journalist and human rights activist, had been spied on using Pegasus software from the Israeli firm NSO, which it said was used by Moroccan authorities.
Wednesday, the Moroccan justice announced to have opened an investigation on Omar Radi, which it suspects of profiting from "financing from abroad" in connection with "intelligence services".
On Thursday, the journalist was interrogated for several hours by the judicial police.
He said the summons was "directly related" to the Amnesty report and the charges against him were "ridiculous," he told AFP.
"I will face this umpteenth intimidation with great firmness," he said in a statement on Friday.
In March, he was given a four-month suspended prison sentence for criticizing a judge on Twitter.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Thursday called on Moroccan authorities to "end the harassment" targeting him.
Amnesty had published in October a first report on the spying of the phones of two Moroccan activists using the same software.
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