Pegasus: new legal responses from Morocco in France against the media

Morocco, accused of having used Pegasus spy software, is increasing the number of legal attacks in France against the media having revealed or denounced the case, in particular via defamation proceedings, which are however very uncertain.

On July 22, Morocco launched a first libel proceeding against Amnesty and Forbidden Stories, the two organizations having obtained the list of telephone numbers targeted by customers of Pegasus, software developed by the Israeli group NSO.

On Wednesday, the lawyer for the Kingdom of Morocco, Me Olivier Baratelli, told AFP that he had issued "four new direct citations in defamation".

Médiapart, Le Monde and Radio France targeted

Two of them target the daily

, a member of the consortium of 17 international media that revealed the scandal, and its director Jérôme Fenoglio, a third sues

and its boss Edwy Plenel, and the last attack Radio France, also a member of the consortium. , said the lawyer. A first procedural hearing is scheduled for October 15 before the chamber specializing in press law, but if a trial takes place, it should not take place for about two years.

Especially since this procedure will come up against a recent case law of the Court of Cassation: already seized by Morocco after several rejection of its complaints, the Court ruled in 2019 that a State could not initiate proceedings for public defamation. , for lack of being a "private individual" within the meaning of the law on freedom of the press.

"The Moroccan State is perfectly admissible" since it also acts on "behalf of its administrations and its services", assures Me Baratelli who intends to scrape against this unfavorable jurisprudence.

Moroccan Interior Minister files complaint for "slanderous denunciation"

For his part, the Moroccan Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, filed Wednesday in Paris a complaint in "slanderous denunciation" against

and its director of publication Edwy Plenel, announced in a statement the lawyer of the Minister, Me Rodolphe Bosselut. The minister intends to challenge "the insidious allegations and slander peddled for several days by these media which bring serious accusations against the institutions he represents, without putting forward any concrete evidence," the statement continued. The minister still denounces "a media cabal". 

His "slanderous denunciation" complaint responds to the complaints against X filed on July 19 by

, two journalists of which were spied on via the Pegasus software. However, it cannot be examined immediately by French justice, but only after the investigation opened on July 20 by the Paris prosecutor's office into this vast espionage scandal and in the event that the minister and his services are put out. of cause.