Pegasus cases: Morocco sues Amnesty International

The Kingdom of Morocco was accused of using the program to spy on journalists, human rights defenders and several leaders of neighboring Algeria, and announced on Thursday that it had filed a lawsuit against Amnesty International and banned stories, which are on the defamation table. Paris Criminal Court.

A first hearing is scheduled for October 8 before the specialized press law department, but the trial will not take about two years.

The Moroccan state intends to immediately seize the French justice, because it wants all the light to shed light on the false allegations of these two organizations that put forward elements without the slightest concrete and proven evidence.said Mr. Olivier Baratelli, commissioned by Morocco.

On Monday, Morocco denied owning it Communication hacking software. Meanwhile, the Moroccan Prosecutor’s Office announced أعلن Opening a judicial investigation into these allegations and false accusations.

The denial of the Gulf kingdoms

For its part, Saudi Arabia has also rejected accusations of espionage using the Israeli Pegasus software.

The official denied the allegations in the press that an entity in the Kingdom [d’Arabie saoudite] Allegedly using communications monitoring softwareThe official Saudi Press Agency, SPA, wrote on Wednesday, without specifying the name of the program in question.

According to the newspaper the world, Saudi Arabia spied on the phone of Nasser Al-Khelaifi, the powerful Qatari owner of French football club Paris Saint-Germain, and beIN SPORTS television network.

The espionage operation by the Qatari president took place at a time when Riyadh, Dubai and Qatar were at a standstill due to political and commercial disagreements.

The UAE, which, like Morocco, has officially normalized its relations with Israel, also rejected the accusations of espionage.

Recent media allegations that the UAE is among a number of countries accused of surveillance and targeting of journalists and individuals are categorically devoid of evidence and persuasive.According to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to what was revealed by the media, including the consortium The Scientist, the small monarchy of the Persian Gulf would have chosen 10,000 phone numbers.

In addition to its own citizens, the UAE has reportedly spied on Lebanese, Iraqi, and Yemeni leaders.

for this part, The Israeli parliament has set up a commission to investigate the allegations in which Pegasus was used Misuse A deputy revealed, on Thursday, that some countries are spying on the characters.

In Europe, Emmanuel Macron, during an extraordinary defense council, asked, Strengthen Security of sensitive communications, at a time when investigations are underway to find out whether the French president’s phone was targeted by software designed by the Israeli company NSO. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called for more restrictions on the sale of spyware.

Thousands of targeted phones

In Hungary, a judicial investigation was ordered Regarding the possible unauthorized collection of confidential information.

The investigations aim to establish the facts and determine whether it was a crime and, if so, which one, it was committed, the Hungarian justice said.

In this country, 300 phones of journalists, lawyers, elected officials or businessmen have been targeted by the Hungarian government.

In Mexico, where at least 15,000 phone numbers have been registered by the software, courts have opened an investigation.

In addition, all federal and state security agencies Orders have been issued to protect all their data in connection with the licensing of Pegasus equipment and others [équipements] similarAccording to the authorities.

Organizations Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International obtained a list of 50,000 phone numbers chosen by clients of the Israeli company since 2016 for potential surveillance, and shared it with a group of 17 media outlets that disclosed their existence on Sunday.