The report published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) plunges Morocco into the scandal linked to the use of the Pegasus spy software developed by the The Zionist company NSO Group. Moroccan and international journalists as well as foreign politicians are among the victims of this software.

The right to privacy is increasingly threatened by the use of modern networked digital technologies, whose characteristics make them surveillance tools, of control and oppression, according to a new United Nations report, urging states to better frame and regulate these tools.

The report examined three key areas: the abuse of intrusive hacking tools (spyware) by public authorities, the key role of methods of robust encryption in protecting human rights online, and the impacts of widespread digital surveillance of public spaces, both offline and online.

According to Omaima Abdeslam, representative of the Polisario Front in Geneva “Morocco has not only spied on its citizens, but on everyone who talks about Moroccan violations in Western Sahara , especially Sahrawi activists” and even senior European officials like some French ministers and officials, she adds.

The UN document describes in detail how surveillance tools such as Pegasus software can turn most smartphones into 24-hour surveillance devices. Such tools thus allow the intruder to access not only everything “on our mobiles, but also to arm them to spy on our lives”, she stressed.