Pegasus Case: Breaking Down a Machinery of Instrumentalization

“This is no Watergate, it is just an episode of a comic series”, said ironically French-Swiss writer and journalist Alain Jourdan in his book “The Pegasus Affair”, published by Cherche Midi.
In an in-depth analysis of a media frenzy against Morocco, Jourdan said that the Pegasus does not make up a full-fledged case, it just blows out of proportion the existing facts.
“No proof of Moroccan involvement exists”, wrote the author, adding that, even in France, reactions were mixed as one minister of Emmanuel Macron’s government stressed that “we only move forward if there is convincing evidence”.
The case amply demonstrated that it is easy to draw baseless conclusions as spurious media allegations were clearly created from scratch to undermine the Morocco-France deep diplomatic relationship, according to the writer.
“In the Pegasus scandal, some of the media outlets which quoted information from Forbidden Stories did not do any investigative work, cross-checking, or verification. Moreover, there was no internal debate in the editorial offices,” said the author, recalling that “real investigative journalism is expensive.”
Accordingly, the author noted that the Pegasus case aims “to destabilize Morocco,” and that those who have accused Rabat have used procedural gimmicks to sidestep the case brought to court. Morocco has never required the services of NSO company.
Morocco had initiated several legal proceedings in France, Spain, and Germany concerning those false and unfounded allegations.
On April 12, Paris Appeal Court upheld what it called the “inadmissibility” of defamation suits brought by Morocco against French NGOs and media that had attempted to target the Kingdom. At the first instance court, the direct summonses against Le Monde, Radio France, France Media Monde, Mediapart, L’Humanité, Forbidden Stories, and Amnesty International were deemed “inadmissible” by the Paris Correctional Court.
The ruling closed the debate on the issue given that, under the 1881 law on press freedom, a state cannot bring a defamation suit. Morocco is still considering the cassation court option.
For head of police and intelligence Abdellatif Hammouchi, Jourdan saw that the man has built a worldwide reputation to the point that the CIA tried to recruit him.
He said that the fact that Hammouchi has the King’s confidence and represents the security apparatus, a fact that makes him the main target of groups that support the Polisario and Algeria.
On a different note, the writer recalled that Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid denied that Emmanuel Macron was targeted by Morocco.
“Morocco’s rise to power does not please some individuals in Europe and they want to stop it,” said Jourdan, adding that putting Africa at the center of Morocco’s diplomatic goals makes the kingdom an African power.
“At the geopolitical level, the stability of Morocco and the Maghreb is the primary interest of France. Now the Rabat-Paris-Algiers triangle is unavoidably unbalanced,” he said.