Report: This Muslim Nation's Intelligence Used Israeli Technology to Spy on Journalists and Officials

A former member of Morocco’s domestic intelligence service has provided detailed testimony stating that the country’s security apparatus used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware for years. The tool was used to spy on journalists, human rights defenders, politicians, and security officials in Morocco and throughout Europe.

The statement emerged from a collaborative investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories. The investigation involved 14 international media organisations, including The Guardian, Le Monde, Haaretz, El Confidencial, and Die Zeit, with technical support from Amnesty International’s Security Lab.

The investigation focused on the testimony of a whistleblower identified by the pseudonym “Safir”. He served for nearly a decade within the Direction Générale de la Surveillance du Territoire (DGST), Morocco’s domestic intelligence agency.

According to the investigation, Safir’s admissions were corroborated by leaked emails, internal training materials, Pegasus target records, testimony from two other former Moroccan intelligence officers, and forensic analysis conducted by Amnesty International.

Moroccan intelligence officers were first introduced to Pegasus during a closed-door demonstration held by representatives of Israel’s NSO Group at a villa in Rabat in 2017. The officers immediately recognised the software’s extraordinary capabilities, as it could hack phones remotely without requiring physical access to the target device.

Pegasus allows operators to access emails, text messages, photos, and other data, while also remotely activating the device’s microphone and camera. The whistleblower revealed that the extremely expensive surveillance tool was supplied via the United Arab Emirates.

“Millions of dollars are nothing to the Emirates,” Safir said. “The Emirates bought it and shared it with friendly intelligence services. Roughly speaking, it’s like Netflix: a friend pays for the subscription, and the others use the account.”

According to the former intelligence officer, the use of Pegasus was reserved only for the highest-priority targets. “We never started with Pegasus,” Safir said. “It was the monster’s weapon.”