According to the revelations of a consortium of 17 media, Morocco would have spied several thousand journalists around the world via Israeli spy software, including about thirty French.
Rabat would have selected its targets according to their positions but also their address books.
DECRYPTION
Medipart and
Le Canard Enchaîné
will file a complaint after the revelations of espionage by Moroccan services.
About thirty journalists including French press bosses saw their phones infected with Israeli spyware Pegasus for the benefit of the Moroccan intelligence services.
But why is the kingdom interested in French personalities?
Sensitive themes for Morocco
In June 2019, Edwy Plenel spoke at a roundtable on human rights in Essaouira, Morocco.
The founder of Medipart then shows his support for the popular movement of the RIF, speaks of freedom of the press.
Within 2 months, his phone is infected with Pegasus software.
Between 2019 and 2020, it is the phone of Leanïg Brédoux, another journalist from Mediapart, who is spied on.
"There are two hypotheses. First, I wrote a series of articles on Morocco, and in particular on the boss of Moroccan intelligence when he was summoned after a complaint for torture in France", reports the journalist. with Europe 1. "The second element is that I am working on the issue of gender-based and sexual violence and that this issue is perceived as something very important in Morocco.
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The address books of the targeted journalists?
Martin Untersinger investigated the Pegasus software for the daily
Le Monde
.
"With cases like Edwy Plenel, the infection is probably explained by his positions and his work. There are other cases where journalists do not work directly on subjects concerning Morocco, and where the we can hypothesize that the services' interest in them is mainly linked to their address book, "he says.
In a statement, the kingdom rejects accusations of espionage, and speaks of false allegations devoid of any foundation.