The “Pegasus” case is a “declarative one-upmanship” that is not based on any scientific evidence
The charges brought against Morocco in connection with the “Pegasus” affair are a “declarative one-upmanship” which is not based on any scientific evidence, underlined, Friday in Paris, Me Rodolphe Bosselut, lawyer of the Kingdom in France.
Me Bosselut denounced, among other things, the absence of lists of telephones allegedly infected with spyware, while the defense of Morocco submitted the methodology of the Amnesty International (AI) laboratory to experts at the Court of Cassation in Paris and the International Criminal Court.
The experts demonstrated that the traceability of the technical investigations carried out by Amnesty “is not established, the choice of smartphones used is not documented, the integrity of the smartphones appraised is not documented, the traceability results only from assertions and that AI’s approach does not follow good practices in digital investigation,” the lawyer told MAP on the sidelines of a press conference in Paris devoted to the latest developments in this case and the legal actions taken by Morocco.
Me Bosselut also cited the case of the Spanish journalist, Ignacio Cembrero, who claimed to have been spied on by Morocco using “Pegasus” and who filed a complaint in Spain, noting that the case was closed without any follow up, for lack of scientific evidence.
“The latter gave his phone to the Spanish authorities who had it examined and found that his smartphone was in no way infected by Pegasus or by any other malware”, indicated the lawyer.
“Today this decision is final, and Mr. Cembrero is also being prosecuted for slanderous denunciation in Spain and must repair the damage he may have caused,” he said, noting that a hearing was held there a few days ago and a decision would be made shortly.
According to Me Bosselut, this decision “confirms us in our position. Since July 2021, we have been faced with a rumor that we dismantle”.
“We start from the principle that it is not up to Morocco to demonstrate that he did not buy or use Pegasus, but it is up to those who wrongly accuse him to justify their accusations”, pleaded the lawyer, adding that “today, we are 19 months after the facts, we have been waiting for the slightest evidence of these accusations,” said Olivier Baratelli, noting that although two investigating judges have been appointed following complaints from various people accusing Morocco of spying on their phones, “no technical element has come to light these accusations.
“It’s still extravagant. This is not an innocuous accusation, it is an extremely serious reproach. We have nothing and the little that we have (i.e. a report from the AI laboratory), we have submitted it to legal experts who have the endorsement of the courts in France, of the Court of Cassation, the Court of Appeal and even the International Criminal Court, who say that the methodology of the Amnesty report is bad and that they cannot infer what they claim.
That is to say that there were infestations with Pegasus and that we can link these infestations to Pierre, Paul or Jacques, and a fortiori, to Morocco”, he hammered.
Shining the spotlight on Morocco, which denied from day one that it had acquired or used Pegasus, while other countries, especially European ones, claimed to have acquired and used it, constitutes an “absolutely disturbing paradox”, according to the lawyer.
In his eyes, this “questions, because they choose the wrong party they accuse, since, precisely, the Moroccan state has neither acquired nor used Pegasus”.
