Mehdi Hijaouy, loin d’être un opposant, s’était distingué par son zèle en faveur du roi du Maroc hammed VI. Il avait notamment pris la défense des frères Azaitar, figures controversées du MMA proches du souverain, puis remis en 2023 un « Livre blanc sur le renseignement » au roi – deux actes perçus comme des provocations par certains cercles du pouvoir, selon la même source.
Tags : Morocco, Mehdi Hijaouy, DGED, moroccan secret services,
Several Collaborators Imprisoned
The flight of ex-spy Mehdi Hijaouy prompts a reckoning in Rabat. Authorities launch a virulent press campaign to mitigate the impact of this escape, now reported by ‘Le Monde’ after El Confidencial.
By Ignacio Cembrero 22/07/2025 – 05:00 EC EXCLUSIVE
One has to go back to the height of the crisis with Spain in the spring of 2021 to recall such a virulent press and social media campaign instigated by the Moroccan authorities. But this time, it’s not against a state and its government, but against a newspaper, its journalists, and, by rebound, that country’s secret services. The target of this campaign is primarily the French newspaper Le Monde. « Morocco is settling scores after the flight abroad of a former espionage chief, » the Parisian newspaper headlined last Friday. « Police officers close to Mehdi Hijaouy, a former high-ranking external intelligence official forced into exile after a conflict with his superiors, face convictions, while his family suffers administrative harassment, » it added.
Le Monde thus published information very similar to what El Confidencial released last month under the title « Secret service war in Morocco, » which sparked a wave of criticism and denials, especially on social media. The French newspaper added some new details, such as the former spy choosing to wage the battle from France that he dared not fight when he was in Spain in late 2024 and Rabat requested his extradition. He hired two prestigious French lawyers, William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth, to try to obtain the annulment of the international arrest warrant against him issued by Rabat via Interpol. A good number of press directors of Moroccan Francophone newspapers were contacted the same Friday by authorities inviting them to respond to Le Monde in French while activating social media, according to exiled Moroccan YouTuber Ali Lmrabet and another source familiar with these phone calls.
This time, they weren’t provided with a pre-written argument. Hence the disparity of allegations against Le Monde, and incidentally against the ex-spy. They not only resorted to texts to attack them but also to videos and cartoons, some of which are, incidentally, dedicated to the author of this report, described as a journalist working for Algeria. « When Le Monde tries to silence the dark side of Mehdi Hijaouy, » for example, headlined Hespress, the most widely read Moroccan digital newspaper. « Le Monde and the art of whitewashing fugitives: Mehdi Hijaouy, an impostor turned martyr, » insisted Maroc Diplomatique. La Nouvelle Tribune even went further by asking: « Is Mehdi Hijaouy the man who must be eliminated? » « On this occasion, biased journalism becomes fictional journalism, » wrote Lahcen Haddad, co-president of the EU-Morocco parliamentary committee, on X. There were attacks against the Parisian newspaper even on small Moroccan Spanish-language websites.
In this torrent of invectives, the newspaper Barlamane stands out, considered the unofficial organ of the Moroccan security apparatus. Its director, Mohamed Khabachi, was head of communication for the Ministry of Interior. Since Friday, it has dedicated no less than three long anonymous articles to the matter, one of which is titled: « The French deep state seeks to hinder the extradition of a fugitive Moroccan intelligence agent, wanted for several crimes. » It thus implies that French secret services are helping the former Moroccan spy, and this, it stresses, is serious on the eve of Throne Day, July 30, which commemorates the enthronement of Mohammed VI. It also suggests that in his escape, Tahnoun bin Zayed, national security advisor of the United Arab Emirates and a member of the royal family, lent him a hand.
France’s so-called deep state has indeed sometimes engaged in skirmishes with Moroccan services, but no indication suggests it is behind Hijaouy. The biggest clash took place in 2014 when the Casablanca press revealed the name of the head of the General Directorate for External Security (DGSE), the French intelligence agency, in Morocco, and this agency responded by revealing, via X, a lot of secret documents from Moroccan diplomacy and external intelligence. Like many spy stories, Mehdi Hijaouy’s is confusing, but it seems to particularly irritate Moroccan security. Not only are they trying to get their hands on him by all means, but they have also imprisoned several of his former collaborators, from a couple of police commissioners to a driver, and are harassing several of his relatives who still reside in Morocco. They have also sent to prison the family of Hicham Jerando, a famous YouTuber based in Canada who allegedly has a close relationship with the former spy.
Hijaouy, 52, was the « number two » of the General Directorate of Studies and Documentation (DGED), the foreign intelligence agency, until 2014, as publicly confirmed by Claude Moniquet, a well-known former French spy who worked with him. He even served as the top chief when Yassine Mansouri, the agency’s director, was on long sick leave. After three years in the wilderness, he returned in 2017 to play a role in the secret services, but no longer directed operations; instead, he advised Fouad Ali el Himma, the main royal advisor, while setting up his own businesses inside and outside the country and writing in the press about national security and martial arts. Mehdi Hijaouy fled Morocco last year to Spain, after passing through Canada and France, when his disagreements with the Rabat authorities intensified. These authorities requested his extradition to Spanish justice in September, among other reasons, for having promoted illegal immigration to Spain, an accusation to which Spanish judges are sensitive. Fearing being handed over, he secretly left in November for another European country, where he is hiding while his former colleagues search for him by land, sea, and air.
Source: El Confidencial, 22/07/2025
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