A single Pegasus customer targeted 200 Spanish phones
A client of the manufacturer of Pegasus, the Israeli company NSO, selected 200 Spanish phone numbers as targets, according to a leak that The Guardian has reported. Among those numbers would be that of the Saharawi activist Aminatou Haidar and the journalist specializing in the Maghreb Ignacio Cembrero, which according to the British newspaper points to Morocco as a possible culprit.
The selection of those targets would have occurred in 2019, according to leaked data, which includes 50,000 phones from around the world. According to an Amnesty International analysis, a phone of Aminatou Haidar was targeted by Pegasus since 2018, while traces of this spyware were also found on a second device of the activist in November 2021.
The inclusion of these 200 phone numbers in a target list does not necessarily imply that all of them will come under attack from Pegasus. Morocco had previously denied spying on any foreign leaders using Pegasus.
As early as 2021, a joint investigation by several international media outlets revealed that 50,000 journalists, politicians and activists around the world were targeted by Pegasus.
