The phone of Emmanuel Macron and ex-premier Eduard Philippe could be tapped using Pegasus – Le Monde programs

One of the phones of French President Emmanuel Macron was on the list of Moroccan intelligence services that could wiretap the device using the Pegasus software of the Israeli company NSO Group. writes edition of Le Monde.

According to the newspaper, the number of Macron, which he regularly used since 2017, as well as the then Prime Minister of the country, Eduard Philippe, and 14 other ministers were included in the list formed by the Moroccan special services for wiretapping.

“Without being able to examine the phone of the President of the Republic, it is impossible to tell whether he was infected with this spyware. Only a precise technical analysis carried out by experts will help to detect its traces, ”the newspaper reports.

At the same time, Le Monde notes that the authenticity of this list and its connection with spyware was established by analyzing several dozen phone numbers.

Earlier, foreign media published an investigation called the Pegasus Project, which alleged that the Israeli company NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware was used to hack phones belonging to journalists and activists around the world. Such surveillance, in particular, was carried out by the Hungarian government under the leadership of Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

Other countries whose authorities used Pegasus against the press include Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, India, Israel, Bahrain, Mexico, Morocco, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

17 publications took part in the Pegasus Project investigation, including The Washington Post, The Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and Haaretz. The project was coordinated by Forbidden Stories, a French non-profit organization with technical assistance from Amnesty International.

In particular, with the help of Pegasus, the Azerbaijani journalist Khadija Ismayilova was spied on. She was sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of tax fraud, and after her release she left for Turkey. However, even abroad, her communication on the phone was controlled by the special services. Ismailova said she feels guilty about the persecution of her sources of information and family members at home.