London (UK), October 3, 2026 (SPS) – Amnesty International said in a new report that technical and forensic evidence links the use of Pegasus spyware by Moroccan authorities to the targeting of human rights defenders, activists and journalists, including individuals linked to the Western Sahara issue.
The organization said evidence indicates that Pegasus was used to target civil society inside and outside Morocco between 2017 and 2021, with possible continued use thereafter. The attacks included methods requiring user interaction, so-called zero-click attacks requiring no action by the user, and attacks through telecommunications networks.
Among cases linked to Western Sahara, Amnesty documented the targeting of the phones of Sahrawi human rights defender Aminatou Haidar with Pegasus, with traces dating to September 2018 and further traces from October and November 2021.
The report also cited cases involving targets outside Morocco, including Claude Mangin, wife of Sahrawi civil prisoner Naâma Asfari, whose phone had previously been documented by Amnesty as having been compromised with Pegasus, as well as other human rights defenders and journalists living in Europe.
Amnesty said Pegasus is part of a broader surveillance system that includes communications interception, location tracking, device access, and surveillance through cameras and recording devices.
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