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Spied on by Morocco, Mediapart files a complaint

2021-07-19T09:03:50.764Z


The French site announced on Monday that it had filed a complaint in Paris, after information indicating that the phones of two of its newspapers


It's a huge cyber espionage case that came to light on Sunday night. Journalists and activists from all over the world have been spied on by Moroccan services via Israeli software, more than 1000 French people are concerned. "The cell phone numbers of Lénaïg Bredoux and Edwy Plenel (co-founder of the site) are among the ten thousand that the Moroccan secret services have targeted using spyware provided by the Israeli company NSO," Mediapart confirmed after the report. publication of these revelations in several media including Le Monde, the Guardian and the Washington Post. Mediapart announced on Monday that it had lodged a complaint in Paris.

A Moroccan security service used spyware developed by an Israeli company to target around thirty French journalists and media bosses out of a thousand French people concerned.

In addition to Lénaïg Bredoux and Edwy Plenel, we find the name of Dominique Simonnot, former investigator of the Canard enchaîné and now general controller of places of deprivation of liberty, but also of a journalist from Le Monde who wished to remain anonymous.

Further information, concerning the surveillance of several heads of state and government, is expected to be released in the coming days.

Pegasus: The New Global Weapon for Silencing Journalists https://t.co/wfrSze9mF4

- Edwy Plenel (@edwyplenel) July 19, 2021

This Pegasus spyware in a smartphone allows you to recover messages, photos, contacts, and even listen to calls from its owner.

NSO, regularly accused of playing into the hands of authoritarian regimes, has always ensured that its software was used only to obtain information against criminal or terrorist networks.

"Violated the private privacy of two journalists"

"The spying of my phone and that of my colleague @LenaBred leads directly to the Moroccan services, as part of the repression of independent journalism and the social movement", reacted Edwy Plenel on Twitter.

Amnesty International had already denounced in 2020 the infection of the phone of Moroccan investigative journalist Omar Radi by the spyware Pegasus.

Press release from @Mediapart: In 2019 and 2020, the cell phones of our journalists Lénaïg Bredoux and Edwy Plenel were infected by the Pegasus spyware, operated by Moroccan secret services.

We are filing a complaint today.https: //t.co/vUOAw22QKn

- Edwy Plenel (@edwyplenel) July 19, 2021

“For several months, the repressive apparatus of the Shereefian kingdom thus violated the private privacy of two journalists, undermined the profession of information and the freedom of the press, stolen and exploited personal and professional data.

No other phone from a member of the Mediapart team has been spied on, ”Mediapart said.

“Beyond the legal consequences, it goes without saying that this attack on fundamental freedoms, carried out by a foreign power against an independent newspaper, requires a firm reaction from the French authorities which goes beyond a conviction of principle. We are waiting for it, ”adds the media.

Source: leparis

All tech articles on 2021-07-19

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