Aboubakr Jamai

Surveillance

Aboubakr Jamai was selected for surveillance with the Pegasus spyware in the years 2018 and 2019. He was identified as a target by WhatsApp in 2019 as the company was able to monitor Pegasus attacks going through its system for a two-week period.

Who is he?

Aboubakr Jamai is a Moroccan journalist, in exile since 2007. Jamai was known as the editor of the independent weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire until he was forced to quit from the publication following judicial harassment by the authorities.

He first suffered defamation charges in 2001 after the publication of an article on corruption involving the minister of Foreign Affairs. In 2006, he was sentenced again on defamation charges because of an article questioning the findings of a research paper on Western Sahara.

In 2003, Jamai won the CPJ International Press Freedom Award for his work at Le Journal Hebdomadaire.

He now works as an academic in the south of France but keeps writing regularly about Morocco’s internal politics and foreign affairs. He has been a vocal supporter of human right activists tormented by the regime such as historian Maati Monjib.

His work

Response

Moroccan authorities said there was no proof of them being a client of NSO Group. NSO Group did not answer Forbidden Stories’ questions on specific targets but said it “will continue to investigate all credible claims of misuse and take appropriate action based on the results of these investigations.”