Morocco's intelligence service used Pegasus spyware for four years, ex-agent confirms

Herz — Switzerland Desk · 16 July 2026 at 06:33 · 30s summary · 3 min read

A former member of Morocco's General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DGST), the country's interior intelligence service, has confirmed that Morocco deployed the Pegasus spyware beginning in 2017 for a four-year period. These revelations were published on July 16, 2026, by a consortium of 14 media outlets coordinated by Forbidden Stories—a platform for threatened journalists founded in November 2017 by Laurent Richard and backed by Reporters Without Borders—with support from Amnesty International.

What we know

Pegasus is spyware engineered to infiltrate smartphones running iOS and Android, commercially distributed starting in 2013 by Israeli company NSO Group. A technical demonstration occurred in Rabat in 2017, the year Morocco began deploying the tool.

The software was obtained without direct commercial transaction: the United Arab Emirates reportedly gifted Pegasus to Morocco.

Identified targets included journalists, human rights defenders, French politicians, and members of the Spanish government.

Pegasus was not the only surveillance tool deployed. Moroccan intelligence services also used hidden microphones and tapped phones to track critical voices.

Morocco denies having used Pegasus against critical voices.

Context

Project Pegasus is an international journalistic investigation whose initial revelations in July 2021 established that eleven nations had surveilled journalists, political opponents, and human rights activists using this spyware. That investigation was coordinated by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International.

The judicial inquiry launched following those initial revelations continues five years later, indicating that criminal proceedings have progressed slowly despite technical evidence compiled by Amnesty International's forensic laboratories.

Timeline

1. November 2017
   Forbidden Stories founded by Laurent Richard, backed by Reporters Without Borders.
2. 2017
   Technical demonstration of Pegasus in Rabat. Morocco, after receiving the software as a gift from the United Arab Emirates, begins deployment. Targets include journalists, human rights defenders, French politicians, and Spanish government members.
3. Pegasus deployed for four years. Concurrently, Moroccan intelligence services use microphones and tapped phones. Traces detected as far as Switzerland.