The shock wave of the revelations of the gigantic global spy operation of Israeli software Pegasus continues to provoke diverse reactions in several countries.
Accused of using the software to spy on journalists, human rights defenders, and several leaders of neighboring Algeria, the Kingdom of Morocco announced on Thursday that it was suing Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories, which are on the defamation table. Origin of the revelations, before the Paris Criminal Court.
A first hearing is scheduled for October 8 before the chamber specializing in press law, but the trial should not take place for about two years.
The Moroccan state intends to immediately seize the French justice, because it wants all the light to be shed on the false allegations of these two organizations which put forward elements without the slightest concrete and demonstrated proof, indicated Me Olivier Baratelli, mandated by Morocco.
On Monday, Morocco denied having acquired software to infiltrate communication devices. In the process, the general prosecutor’s office of Morocco announced the opening of a judicial investigation into these false allegations and accusations.
Denial of the Gulf monarchies
Saudi Arabia, for its part, has also rejected accusations of espionage using Israeli software Pegasus.
An official denied allegations in the press that an entity in the kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] used software to monitor communications, the official Saudi news agency SPA wrote on Wednesday, without specifying the name of the software in question.
According to Le Monde newspaper , the Saudi kingdom spied on the phone of Nasser Al Khelaïfi, the powerful Qatari owner of French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain, and the beIN SPORTS television network.
The Qatari boss’s espionage operation took place at a time when Riyadh, Dubai and Qatar were on the cold due to political and trade disputes.
Mohamed bin Zayed, the crown prince of the United Arab Emirates, has in recent years become an influential geopolitical and economic actor in the Middle East.
The United Arab Emirates, which like Morocco has officially normalized its relations with Israel, has also rejected the espionage charges.
Recent media claims that the Emirates are among a number of countries accused of surveillance targeting journalists and individuals are devoid of evidence and categorically false, the UAE foreign ministry said.
According to the revelations of the media consortium, including Le Monde, the small monarchy of the Persian Gulf would have selected 10,000 phone numbers.
In addition to its citizens, the UAE has reportedly spied on Lebanese, Iraqi and Yemeni leaders.
For its part, Israel’s parliament has set up a commission to investigate allegations that Pegasus has been misused by some states to spy on public figures, a lawmaker revealed on Thursday.
In Europe, Emmanuel Macron asked, during an exceptional Defense Council, to strengthen the security of sensitive means of communication, at a time when investigations are underway to find out whether the French president’s phone has been targeted by the 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 inquiry has been ordered into the potential unauthorized collection of confidential information .
The investigations are aimed at establishing the facts and determining whether a crime, and if so which one, has been committed, said the Hungarian justice.
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 telephone numbers have been registered by the software, the courts have opened an investigation.
In addition, all federal and state security agencies have been ordered to protect all their data in connection with the licensing of Pegasus equipment and other similar [equipment], according to authorities.
The organizations Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International obtained a list of 50,000 phone numbers, selected by clients of the Israeli company since 2016 for potential monitoring, and shared it with a consortium of 17 media outlets that revealed its existence on Sunday.
