Algeria is closely watched by Morocco
InvestigationAccording to data seen by Forbidden Stories and “Le Monde”, Rabat is one of the largest users of Pegasus spyware at the expense of the Algerian authorities.
March 30, 2019 will be fatal for Said Bouteflika. On that Saturday, the brother of the Algerian head of state struggles to save what can still be saved. Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s presidency is on the verge of collapse due to the massive demonstrations calling for his departure. And his power, which was strengthened in parallel with the weakening of Abdulaziz, is sick, well threatened.
Be a semi-guardianHe has everything to lose. So that day he tried his last poker game to try to remove the inauspicious and powerful army chief of staff, Ahmed Gaid Salah.
This event, like many others in 2019, is closely watched by Gaid Salah’s men. But they are not the only ones who are taking a closer look at what is happening in the country. One of the operators of the Moroccan security services is also interested in the political climate in Algeria.
More than 6000 numbers chosen by Morocco
In this country, more than 6,000 telephone numbers belonging to politicians, military personnel, heads of intelligence services, senior officials, foreign diplomats in office or political activists have been selected as possible targets of the Pegasus spyware program. By the Moroccan client of the Israeli company NSO. According to data published by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International at Scientist, Morocco is a heavy user of the software and these 6,000 numbers make up a large group, compared to the 50,000 phone numbers chosen worldwide, between 2017 and 2019.
In this process of monitoring, Morocco was not limited to Algerian territory. Presumed numbers of Algerian nationals, most of whom are diplomats, have been targeted at least in South Africa, Angola, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Canada, Côte d’Ivoire, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Spain, Ethiopia, Finland, Indonesia, Iran and Kenya. , Mauritania, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Czech Republic, Rwanda, Senegal, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey and Zimbabwe.
In France, the Pegasus worker was unsurprisingly interested in the Algerian embassy and the number of the Algerian ambassador, Abdelkader Massdoua, or who was assigned to Colonel Karim Hadj Sadouq, the military attache. On the other side of the Mediterranean, the figure of the then French ambassador, Xavier Drincourt, attributed to the French military attache, was targeted. In addition to another, she would belong to the European Union ambassador to Algeria.
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