Moroccan Journalist Targeted by Israeli Spyware, Amnesty International Reports

Through a detailed report, the NGO Amnesty International revealed that Moroccan investigative journalist Omar Radi was the target of several attacks during the course of 2019. According to the experts, the journalist’s phone was the victim of several intrusions carried out by the Pegasus software, designed by the Israeli firm NSO, which has already been the subject of several accusations for having helped several states to spy on their opponents.

Detailed analyzes on the victim’s smartphone reveal that it was the target of several "network injection" attacks between January 2019 and January 2020, according to France info. And to continue that this type of attack consists in redirecting the internet browser of the smartphone to a malicious site which will allow the installation of a spy software on the targeted telephone. To be successful, this type of operation requires the "attacker" to have control of the mobile network to which the target is connected. This can be done via an operator located near the targeted phone equipped with a device.

Questioned, Omar Radi confirms having noticed suspicious behavior of his phone which, according to him, redirects him to other completely different servers. He claims to have been under surveillance for a few years by the Moroccan security services, adding that he had been spotted by the police in 2008-2009, after sending SMS for a meeting with a group of friends. Indeed, Omar Radi had already been imprisoned in December 2019 following a tweet criticizing the judge who had sentenced several opponents of the Moroccan regime.

Aged 33, Omar Radi is an investigative journalist living in Rabat, whose investigations deal with corruption in Morocco, social movements, or land grabbing affecting the poorest populations in certain regions of the country.