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Journalist and activist Omar Radi waits outside court in Casablanca, Morocco on 12 March, 2020.
Radi said police claims they wanted to speak to him as ‘a suspect of obtaining funds from foreign sources related to intelligence groups’ were ‘ridiculous’. Photograph: Youssef Boudlal/Reuters
Radi said police claims they wanted to speak to him as ‘a suspect of obtaining funds from foreign sources related to intelligence groups’ were ‘ridiculous’. Photograph: Youssef Boudlal/Reuters

Moroccan police summon journalist days after Israeli spyware allegations

This article is more than 3 years old

Omar Radi says police questioning ‘clearly linked’ to Amnesty’s claim he was targeted by NSO Group spyware

A Moroccan journalist has been summoned to the police just days after an investigation by Amnesty alleged that he had been repeatedly targeted with spyware made by Israel’s NSO Group.

Omar Radi, an investigative reporter who has been critical of Morocco’s human rights record, was ordered to appear before the National Brigade of Judicial Police.

Radi sent a tweet on Wednesday night with a picture of the police summons. “I’ll be there tomorrow morning,” he said.

توصلت للتو باستدعاء كتابي من الفرقة الوطنية للشرطة القضائية للحضور بمكتبهم غدا صباحا. pic.twitter.com/ZSQL5mN76l

— Omar Radi (@OmarRADI) June 24, 2020

A statement on Wednesday night by the royal public prosecutor at Casablanca’s court of appeal confirmed that the summons had been issued and said Radi had been ordered to appear in connection to an “ongoing investigation in regard to his being a suspect of obtaining funds from foreign sources related to intelligence groups”.

Radi said in a statement: “I find the prosecution’s accusation absolutely ridiculous. This is clearly linked to recent revelations by Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories that my phone was spied on by Morocco using Israeli technology.”

He added: “I’m not afraid of anything, I’m going in with my head held high. My goal is to reveal through my journalism the injustices and the true reality of Morocco, and to campaign for a better Morocco as an activist.”

Amnesty said in a statement that news of the preliminary investigation was “shocking” and that it stood in solidarity with Radi, who “has shown throughout the years his commitment to a journalism free of any allegiance. We call on the authorities to fulfil its duty to protect the right to freedom of expression and to immediately stop harassing journalists.”

The Guardian and multiple other media outlets published a report this week in coordination with Forbidden Stories, a collaborative journalism network which highlights the work of journalists who are threatened, jailed or killed, that revealed new details about an alleged hacking campaign against Radi.

An investigation by Amnesty claimed that Radi’s phone had repeatedly been targeted using NSO Group’s Pegasus software. The software, which NSO has said is only sold to governments and law enforcement officials to target criminals and terrorists, was allegedly used repeatedly to target Radi’s phone between January 2019 and January 2020, according to Amnesty.

NSO Group has said it was “deeply troubled” by the allegations and was determining whether an investigation was warranted. In response to questions about its relationship with Moroccan authorities, NSO said it “seeks to be as transparent as feasible” but was obliged to respect “state confidentiality concerns” and could not disclose the identity of its customers.

Amnesty has alleged that increased surveillance of journalists and other members of civil society has led to an uptick in arbitrary arrests and prosecutions in Morocco, including ten recent cases of unlawful arrests, prosecutions, and prison terms for people who had “offended” public officials, institutions, or the monarchy.

Radi has described to Amnesty that working conditions have become more difficult in Morocco, including threats by police against people he has interviewed in connection to an investigation into land rights abuses.

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