Spanish Court Dismisses Morocco’s Defamation Case Against Journalist in Pegasus Spyware Dispute

At the hearing held on Friday, the journalist reiterated that Morocco spied on him using Pegasus and that he is the subject of "harassment" from the Moroccan authorities. For these reasons, he asked that Morocco’s complaint be dismissed. Morocco had filed a civil lawsuit against Cembrero, demanding that he retract his unproven accusations, recalls Público.

"I am a victim of intimidation and harassment from the Moroccan authorities since 2014" and "of constant and systematic insults from the Moroccan authorities and the press," said the journalist, recalling that this is his fourth trial against Morocco, after two charges of apology for terrorism, both dismissed, and another from a businessman linked to the Moroccan intelligence services, which resulted in an acquittal.

For Cembrero, this trial, like the previous ones, has been detrimental to him, as many sources no longer provide him with information. For his lawyer, Javier Sánchez, "the conviction is in the trial," especially since Morocco knew it would not prosper, but by bringing it, it tried to "silence" the journalist and warn others.

The case dates back to 2021, when Forbidden Stories, an international media consortium, with the technical support of Amnesty International, revealed that the governments of several countries, including Morocco, had spied on thousands of mobile phones of human rights activists, political figures and journalists using the Pegasus software, designed by the Israeli company NSO Group.