France Weighed Buying Pegasus While Morocco Targeted Ministers, Investigation Says
A new investigation by the Forbidden Stories journalism consortium alleges that Moroccan intelligence used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to target senior French officials, including current Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, while France itself briefly explored buying the same surveillance technology.
The allegations, published on Thursday, come as Lecornu is on an official visit to Morocco to strengthen cooperation on security and other shared interests. The reports "pose the question of the frankness of the discussion between France and Morocco," said Laurent Richard, founder of Forbidden Stories.
According to the investigation, Morocco systematically used Pegasus to monitor opponents, journalists and critical voices, including French politicians, both inside the country and abroad, Richard said.
The investigation is based in part on testimony from a former Moroccan intelligence officer. It provides "new proof" from "a former member of the intelligence services" about "daily espionage by the Kingdom of Morocco against dissidents and journalists" using spyware including Pegasus, Richard said.
Forbidden Stories first alleged in 2021 that Morocco had used Pegasus, developed by Israel's NSO Group, to target prominent French politicians, including President Emmanuel Macron. The new investigation says forensic evidence has also been found on the phones of French ministers, including Lecornu, who was allegedly targeted in 2019 while serving as minister for local authorities.
In a separate report, the consortium said France briefly considered acquiring Pegasus from mid-2019. Le Monde reported that a representative of NSO met a branch of French domestic intelligence in charge of acquiring spyware in June 2019, and then again at least four times in the following months. In late 2020, Macron ruled against buying the Israeli software in order not to depend on foreign technology, according to information obtained by Le Monde.
Morocco has firmly rejected all the accusations made against it and demanded evidence, according to the reports. The French prime minister's team and the Élysée Palace have not commented on the latest allegations.
Pegasus, manufactured by NSO Group, allows its operator to access everything on a target's mobile phone, including emails, text messages and photographs. It can also activate the phone's recorder and camera, turning it into a listening device. NSO Group says Pegasus is sold only to governments to help them track criminals and terrorists, but it is alleged to have been used by several countries to target dissidents, journalists, diplomats and politicians.
The consortium, coordinated by Forbidden Stories and comprising several media organisations including Le Monde, has also analysed material detailing Morocco's surveillance practices, from leaked emails to testimony from a whistleblower who worked for Morocco's domestic intelligence service for almost a decade. The source, known by the pseudonym Safir, says Moroccan internal security services began using Pegasus in 2017 and deployed it against domestic and foreign targets over four years.
The investigation also describes physical surveillance techniques used on a prominent critic of the monarchy, Omar Radi, who saw his phone tapped, miniature cameras installed in his home light fittings, and his every conversation transcribed. This ended only when he was arrested for espionage, rape and sexual assault, for which he was found guilty in a trial "fraught with irregularities," according to the report.
The new revelations come five years after the first wave of the Pegasus scandal, and as France seeks to rebuild ties with Morocco after years of diplomatic tensions.