Moroccan intelligence used spyware, hidden microphones and malware-infected phones to carry out unlawful surveillance of journalists, activists and human rights defenders, Amnesty International has alleged.
The organisation said Morocco had developed an extensive surveillance system aimed at silencing critical voices, combining Pegasus spyware with phone tapping, physical monitoring and covert audio and video recording.
Its report, Inside Morocco’s surveillance machine, draws on testimony from a former employee of Morocco’s domestic intelligence service, the DGST, alongside leaked documents and journalistic investigations.
Amnesty identified the DGST as the agency responsible for deploying Pegasus in Morocco between 2017 and 2021. The spyware was developed by the Israeli NSO Group, which has faced longstanding allegations that its technology has been used to target journalists, activists and political figures.
Morocco has repeatedly denied using spyware against its citizens. Amnesty said it contacted Moroccan authorities four weeks before publishing its findings but received no response.
Spyware and covert recordings
The report alleges that surveillance extended beyond digital hacking. A former DGST employee told Amnesty that people were secretly filmed and recorded in detention, offices, cars and bedrooms, while phone calls were systematically monitored.
The whistleblower also alleged that mobile phones pre-infected with malware were sold in shops by DGST agents, internet cafes were compromised with remote-controlled spyware and devices were physically tampered with at airports.
Microphones were allegedly concealed in the light fittings of the apartment belonging to journalist Omar Radi, who was later imprisoned.
Amnesty said it identified 103 Moroccan phone numbers entered into the Pegasus system between September and December 2017 and matched them to specific individuals. Sixty-five belonged to civil society members, including 34 human rights defenders and 22 journalists or media workers.
A further 25 numbers were linked to political figures or officials, while five belonged to 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.
The organisation said it had also found evidence that spyware was delivered through the state-owned Maroc Telecom network. It alleged that Morocco had purchased surveillance tools from companies based in Israel, the European Union and the United States.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, said: “Morocco has wholly embraced techno-authoritarian practices.”
Amnesty called on the Moroccan authorities to end the surveillance and urged other countries to suspend spyware exports to Morocco until human rights safeguards were in place.
The investigation formed part of a collaboration involving 14 media organisations coordinated by Forbidden Stories.
