Morocco's frenzy for purchasing surveillance tools revealed by whistleblower

Investigation Keyloggers installed via USB stick, phones sold with pre-installed spyware, wiretapping and hidden cameras... In addition to the Pegasus spyware, Morocco has assembled a powerful arsenal of repressive tools that it deploys against journalists and political targets.

A former officer of Morocco's powerful domestic intelligence service, the DGST, has decided to speak out the abuses within his former agency and how it contributes to the repression of Moroccan civil society, delivering an unprecedented account from the heart of Morocco's security apparatus.

His identity must remain secret. We cannot reveal his age or the country where he has taken refuge, nor can we describe his physical appearance or let his voice be heard. The risks he faces by speaking out are immense: When he goes to a café, he prefers to be served in disposable containers, so as not to leave any fingerprints. We will call him Safir.

He first made with Moroccan journalist Hicham Mansouri. After investigating for several years, Mansouri reached out to Forbidden Stories, a media organization dedicated to continuing the work of journalists who have been silenced. Based on Safir's testimony, previously unseen documents – some originating from judicial proceedings and Moroccan authorities – and accounts from several other whistleblowers, a consortium made up of Le Monde and 14 other newsrooms, coordinated by Forbidden Stories and with technical support from Amnesty International's Security Lab, details how the impressive surveillance arsenal of the Moroccan regime was used to monitor and silence its opponents.

What stands out when listening to Safir recount his decade at the DGST is the Moroccan security apparatus's voracious appetite for surveillance technologies. The crown jewel of this arsenal is, of course, the Pegasus spyware. After Le Monde and its partners in the Pegasus Project revealed in 2021 that Morocco was using this highly sophisticated tool to hack phones, officials in Rabat retreated into denial. Yet Safir confirmed that Morocco is indeed a customer of the Israeli company NSO Group.