Amnesty: Morocco targets dissidents using notorious Israeli spyware

London (QNN) – The Moroccan government has used the Israeli technology company NSO Group’s notorious spyware to spy on Moroccan journalist Omar Radi, a new investigation by Amnesty International has revealed.

The Award-winning journalist was targeted with notorious Pegasus spyware days after the Israeli tech firm pledged to abide by human rights standards.

Amnesty found that Radi’s phone was subjected to multiple attacks using a sophisticated technique that silently installs NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware.

Radi – a vocal critic of Morocco’s human rights record who has worked for various international publications exposing links between corporate and political interests, corruption and breaches of human rights – has been systematically targeted by the Moroccan authorities. On 17 March, he was given a suspended four-month prison term for a tweet criticising the unfair trial of a group of activists.

NSO Group Technologies is an Israeli technology firm whose spyware called Pegasus enables the remote surveillance of smartphones. It is based in Herzliya, near Tel Aviv.

NSO Group claims it performs rigorous checks to identify human rights issues before selling its products, but these claims lack detail and appear to have been ineffective in numerous instances.

The firm’s Pegasus software has been used to target journalists and activists across the globe – including in Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.