Morocco: Amnesty accuses DGST of spying on journalists and activists for over a decade

Amnesty International published a report on October 1, 2026, titled "We start with the verdict," which accuses Moroccan domestic intelligence of monitoring journalists, human rights defenders, and Sahrawi activists for over a decade using spyware purchased from foreign companies.

Four spyware programs, one single service

According to the report, shared by the investigative consortium OCCRP, the General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DGST) successively acquired and deployed the Israeli spyware Pegasus from NSO Group, the Eagle system from the French company Amesys, RCS from Italy's Hacking Team, and FinSpy from the Anglo-German Gamma Group. Amnesty traces the first contracts of this type back to at least 2009 and places the use of Pegasus between 2017 and 2021. A 2015 data leak from Hacking Team had already shown that the Moroccan service held a license allowing it to infect up to 2,000 devices, including Windows, Mac, and mobile phones.

A former agent breaks his silence

The investigation relies on the testimony of a former employee of the Moroccan secret services. According to this whistleblower, the DGST used private intermediaries to contract with NSO Group, a method that prevented the state from leaving a direct paper trail. The cited documents also mention the National Defense Secrets Committee.

Among those targeted, the report identifies journalist Hicham Mansouri, whose device was infected with Pegasus, and Claude Mangin, wife of the Sahrawi activist Naama Asfari, who is imprisoned in Morocco. French and Spanish political figures were also reportedly targeted. For the organization, members of civil society have been "the primary target" of the Moroccan authorities since the inception of this system.

Rabat disputes the claims

Morocco has always denied using spyware against its citizens. Contacted by the OCCRP, the government did not respond, and the sources consulted report no official reaction to the October 1 report. Media outlets close to the authorities dismissed the findings, deeming them based on unverifiable anonymous sources and weak documentary evidence.

The affair extends beyond Moroccan borders. It raises the question of Africans' right to a free press and a protected private life, at a time when the surveillance market remains dominated by Israeli and European suppliers who sell capabilities to states on the continent that largely escape the oversight of parliaments and judges. Defending the rights of Africans also means holding African powers accountable for how they use these tools.

Amnesty describes the attacks it documented as illegal. No judicial proceedings opened in Morocco following this report have been made public to date.