Morocco asks Amnesty for proof it used spyware on journalist
Morocco's prime minister has demanded Amnesty International
provide evidence to support its allegations that Rabat used spyware to bug a
journalist's phone.
Amnesty said in June the Moroccan authorities used software
developed by Israeli security firm NSO to insert spyware onto the cellphone of
Omar Radi, a journalist convicted in March over a social media post.
The Pegasus software can switch on the phone's camera and
microphone as well as access data.
If the international watchdog fails to provide evidence, the
kingdom "will take the necessary steps to defend its national
security" and "clear up public opinion" on the allegations,
Prime Minister Saad-Eddine El Othmani said in a statement carried by the
Moroccan Press Agency on Thursday.
Last week, the Moroccan authorities said they summoned the
local director of the London-based group to demand proof about the
"serious and tendentious accusations", but did not get a response.
Without proof, Amnesty's allegations amount to "an
unjust international defamation campaign dictated by an agenda having nothing
to do with human rights", the statement said.
It went on to denounce the organisation's "systematic
and continual persecution against Morocco's interests".
In addition, Morocco "does not have at its disposal NSO
technology", a senior government official told AFP on condition of
anonymity, referring to the Israeli security firm.
Rabat said last week it was investigating if Radi received
foreign funding for intelligence services.
Thursday's statement said the journalist is "undergoing
a judicial investigation for suspected breach of state security, because of his
links to a liaison officer of a foreign country".
It said the alleged foreign agent has "worked under
diplomatic cover since 1979 in several regions of tension" around the
world.
Last week, Radi told AFP the legal action was connected to
the Amnesty report, denouncing the allegations against him as
"ridiculous".
Amnesty said he had been "systematically targeted by
the Moroccan authorities due to his journalism and activism".
In March, he was given a four-month suspended sentence for
criticising a judge in a tweet.
NSO is being sued in the US by messaging service WhatsApp
over alleged cyber-espionage on human rights activists and others.
The Israeli firm says it only licenses its software to
governments for "fighting crime and terror" and that it investigates
credible allegations of misuse.
Amnesty has accused Morocco of putting spyware on the phone
of Omar Radi, a journalist jailed over a social media post whose case has
sparked protests.
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