Western countries and their Middle East military and oil allies have come in for severe criticism for allowing the situation in North Africa to descend into chaos after uprisings in Tunisia, the NATO-backed fall of Libya's Colonel Gaddafi, uprisings in Egypt and elsewhere, letting ISIL to establish a foothold in North Africa.
The general instability of the whole of the North Africa and Middle East regions has led to the biggest refugee crisis in a century. "Christians are now being persecuted and tortured as a result of the western-backed 'Arab Spring' that has allowed extremist Muslims to seize power and impose a sectarian crackdown," says analyst Paul Joseph Watson, writing in Infowars.com.
Western-Backed “Arab Spring” Leads to Persecution of Christians — http://t.co/Vcb7HQt46Q
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) March 27, 2013
Prevention of a Moroccan Spring
However, a new report by Privacy International (PI) says that — apart from the millions of lives that have been wrecked as the Arab Spring failed to enhance democracy and stability in the region — there has been a massive increase in state surveillance as well.
Our statement about the Moroccan government’s intimidation of civil society: https://t.co/bQKwMLRYW6
— PrivacyInternational (@privacyint) May 13, 2015
PI says it has been working in 13 countries to find out the extent of state monitoring of communications — especially email and social media, which played such a major part in the spread of the Arab Spring. Part of its investigation was to discover the level of surveillance being used in North Africa rumoured to be for preventing the spread of a "Moroccan Spring".
However, the government of Morocco has initiated an investigation into "a group behind a report that allegedly accuses the intelligence services of spying on right activists and journalists," according to PI, which has condemned the decision as a further crackdown on liberty and freedom of speech.
Moroccan Malware
As an example, it gave the story of four journalists and activists who have been personally targeted by state surveillance. Three of them — Hisham Almiraat, Samia Errazzouki and Yassir Kazar — were part of Mamfakinch, a collective of citizen journalists born out of the February 20th Movement who are critical of the Government. Mamfakinch was targeted using spyware developed and sold by Hacking Team.
— ADN (@raqmiya) May 13, 2015
U.S. provides weapons to Morocco, and gives lentils to Sahrawi refugees. pic.twitter.com/rA1p3ErgR8
— Samia Errazzouki (@charquaouia) May 5, 2015
An email sent out via the contact form on the Mamfakinch website was forwarded to the whole editorial team. The email suggested the attached document would reveal a major scandal. What the attached document actually contained was spyware, which granted the attacker complete remote access to the target's computer. Since February 2014, Mamfakinch has been inactive.
The PI report 'Their Eyes on Me: Stories of Surveillance in Morocco' was immediately seized upon by the authorities.
A spokesperson for PI told Sputnik:
"Privacy International is alarmed by the Moroccan Ministry of Interior's reaction to our report. State news agency MAP reported that the Moroccan Ministry of Interior has initiated an investigation into 'a group behind a report that allegedly accuses the intelligence services of spying on right activists and journalists'.
"This is a politically motivated act of intimidation designed to silence civil society and stifle legitimate criticism of the Moroccan government."
