Morocco, Hungary reject accusations of spying journalists



Morocco and Hungary categorically denied Monday the use by its security services of Israeli software Pegasus to spy on journalists, as several international media accuse them of. The Moroccan government has, in a statement, denounced as “false” the information according to which the security services of the kingdom “infiltrated the telephones of several national and foreign public figures and officials of international organizations through computer software”.

“The government has never acquired computer software to infiltrate communication devices, just as the Moroccan authorities have never had recourse to this kind of act,” the statement continued, adding that “the media collective (…) is unable to provide evidence to support its claims ”. The government says “to challenge the collective, just as it had done with Amnesty International, to provide realistic and scientific evidence which can be the subject of an independent expertise and second opinion on the veracity of these allegations. “.

“The software is not used,” says Hungary

Same reaction from the Hungarian government: “The director general (of the secret services) informed me that no cooperation has been established with the Israeli intelligence services”, reacted the Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto in conference Press. “The software is not used” by the Hungarian intelligence services, he added, while in a statement, the Hungarian government told AFP “to act in accordance with the law in force”.

According to a survey published on Sunday by a consortium of 17 international media, including dailies The world, The Guardian and The Washington Post, activists, journalists and opponents around the world have been spied on thanks to the Pegasus software developed by the Israeli company NSO Group.

The investigation is based on a list obtained by the France-based network Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International, which they claim has 50,000 phone numbers selected by NSO customers since 2016 for potential surveillance. The list includes the numbers of at least 180 journalists, 600 politicians, 85 human rights activists and 65 business leaders, according to the consortium, which has located many in Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.



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