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French President Emmanuel Macron’s phone has been targeted for potential surveillance on behalf of Morocco in the Pegasus spyware affair, French newspaper Le Monde reported on Tuesday.
The French presidency has said that if the revelations on Macron’s phone are true, they will be very serious.
Le Monde indicated that, according to sources, one of Macron’s phone numbers, which he had used regularly since 2017, is on the list of numbers selected by the Moroccan intelligence services for potential cyber-espionage.
Morocco issued a statement Monday denying any involvement in the use of Pegasus and dismissing what it called “unfounded and false allegations”.
An investigation released Sunday by 17 media organizations, led by the Paris-based nonprofit journalism group Forbidden Stories, said the spyware, manufactured and licensed by the Israeli company NSO, had been used in hacking attempts smartphones belonging to journalists, government officials and human rights activists.
The claim was based on a leaked document containing 50,000 numbers of people identified as potential targets for Pegasus between 2016 and June 2021.
The list was dominated by numbers from 10 countries – Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Hungary, India, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
British newspaper The Guardian reported on Tuesday that the list included the phone numbers of Macron and 13 other world leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The Washington Post reported that Iraqi President Barham Salih’s phone number was also on the list.
The Post said it could not be determined whether Pegasus spyware infected Salih’s phone or whether there was an attempt to do so.
In a statement, Amnesty International Secretary General Agnes Callamard said: “The unprecedented revelation that the phones of at least fourteen heads of state may have been hacked using NSO’s Pegasus spyware Group should shudder the world’s leaders.
“NSO Group can no longer hide behind the claim that its spyware is only used to fight crime – it seems Pegasus is also the spyware of choice for those who want to spy on foreign governments.”
“Unsubstantiated theories”
NSO released a statement on Sunday dismissing the media partners’ reports, saying they were “full of flawed assumptions and unsubstantiated theories.”
Its product is only intended for use by government intelligence and law enforcement agencies to fight terrorism and crime, he said.
Separately, Radio France reported on Tuesday that the phone of King Mohammed VI of Morocco, as well as “a large number” of members of the Moroccan royal family, were also on a list of people identified as potential targets of the Pegasus spyware by Moroccan intelligence services.
He said they included the king’s wife Lalla Salma Bennani, his cousin Prince Moulay Hicham Alaoui – nicknamed the “Red Prince” for his progressive views, a former son-in-law of the late King Hassan II, the entrepreneur Fouad Filali, and Hassan II’s former bodyguard, Mohamed Mediouri, who is the current king’s stepfather.
Indian parliament disrupted
In India, the country’s opposition parties disrupted parliament on Tuesday, demanding an investigation into reports that the government used Pegasus spyware to spy on numerous journalists, activists and politicians, including the main opposition leader. Rahul Gandhi.
Shouting slogans against the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, opposition members said they wanted an independent investigation into the espionage complaints and the resignation of Interior Minister Amit Shah.
India’s news portal The Wire reported that the smartphones of politicians including Gandhi, a top opposition party leader, Congress, and two other lawmakers were among 300 verified Indian numbers listed as potential surveillance targets in 2017-19 before the national elections.
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