Rabat, Morocco - Amnesty International on Thursday denounced what it described as Morocco's use of surveillance to silence journalists and human rights defenders.

The London-based organization said its report relied on the testimony of a former employee of the Moroccan Domestic Intelligence Service (DGST), as well as leaked documents and journalistic investigations.

NGOs including Amnesty have for years accused Morocco of using Pegasus spyware, developed by the Israeli NSO Group, to monitor journalists, activists, and political figures.

Morocco has denied doing so, asserting that it protects the confidentiality of personal communications.

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Amnesty International, however, said Moroccan authorities combined "high-tech tools" like Pegasus with more traditional techniques like tailing and wiretapping.

"People are secretly videoed and audio recorded in detention, in their own offices and cars, and even in their own bedrooms," the report says.

"Phone calls are systematically recorded and spied upon," and "shops sell mobile phones pre infected with malware by DGST agents."

The personal data collected on activists and human rights defenders is used to fuel public smear campaigns against them, according to the NGO.

Amnesty said Morocco used Pegasus spyware between 2017 and 2021, and "possibly later," and that the government had purchased additional surveillance technology from European, American, and Israeli companies.

The group called on Morocco to stop spying on activists and journalists and to launch an independent investigation into the DGST.