He spent most of his life behind the scenes of Moroccan power. Trained to monitor, infiltrate, and neutralize threats to the kingdom, Mehdi Hijaouy is now himself being hunted by the very services to which he devoted his career. The French newspaper Libération has published an investigation into this former senior official of Morocco’s foreign intelligence service, who has become one of the most embarrassing figures for the kingdom’s security establishment.
Coming from a family close to Morocco’s military circles, Mehdi Hijaouy joined the General Directorate of Studies and Documentation (DGED), the kingdom’s foreign intelligence service, in 1994. His father, an officer trained at Saint-Cyr and a defense attaché, was well regarded by King Hassan II. One of his uncles, Colonel Abdelkader Allam, was killed on the Golan front during the October War of 1973 and was later elevated to the status of a national hero.
Within the DGED, Hijaouy steadily rose through the ranks until becoming a General Controller. In 2000, he completed training with Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet, becoming the first Moroccan trainee officially received by Israeli intelligence services.
In 2005, under the codename “Amos,” he headed the DGED’s operations division and internal security office. He accompanied the King on official trips throughout Africa and took part in operations in France, Spain, and the Benelux countries. During the Western Sahara conflict, Moroccan intelligence services were engaged in an intense influence and counterintelligence campaign across Europe.
After serving as chief of staff to Yassine Mansouri, head of the DGED, he was assigned in 2017 to work with the royal adviser responsible for coordinating the security services. This strategic position placed him close to some of the kingdom’s most sensitive secrets.
The Azaitar Brothers and One White Paper Too Many
The break with the royal entourage did not come through a dramatic scandal but through a series of initiatives viewed as violations of palace protocol.
In 2021, Mehdi Hijaouy publicly supported the Azaitar brothers. The three German-Moroccan mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters—Ottman, Abu Bakr, and Omar—had become influential figures within King Mohammed VI’s circle and were reputed to be very close to him. In an article published by the Moroccan business magazine Challenge, Hijaouy argued that they could contribute to the training of Moroccan security forces. Although the proposal was transmitted to the King, it was ultimately rejected by his advisers.
Two years later, in 2023, he went a step further by sending Mohammed VI a “White Paper” on the future and restructuring of Moroccan intelligence services. In a court system where access to the monarch is tightly controlled and influence is measured by proximity to the King, bypassing official channels was perceived as an insult by leading security officials, especially security chief Abdellatif Hammouchi and royal adviser Fouad Ali El Himma.
From Paris to Madrid, Then Disappearance
Having become politically toxic in Rabat, Mehdi Hijaouy left Morocco. He first settled in France before moving to Spain. Moroccan authorities then sought his arrest with a view to extradition. In Madrid, Spanish courts confiscated his passport and required him to report regularly to authorities as part of judicial supervision.
During this period, he met with officials from Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI). The meeting convinced him that a temporary arrangement might be possible and that a forced return to Morocco had become a real possibility. The man in his fifties then disappeared from Spanish authorities’ radar, heading to an unknown destination and taking with him secrets about intrigues and covert operations allegedly devised behind the scenes of power.
This has fueled considerable speculation at a time when Morocco is facing an end-of-reign atmosphere, with the King’s declining health becoming increasingly difficult to conceal.
Throughout his career, Mehdi Hijaouy accumulated highly sensitive information. According to the investigation, he retained access to ultra-sensitive intelligence after his assignment coordinating security services, including information related to the Pegasus affair.
The Pegasus spyware scandal, in which Morocco’s alleged use of the software triggered diplomatic tensions with several Western countries, was notably linked to surveillance operations targeting Algeria. Data published by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International revealed nearly 6,000 Algerian phone numbers—including those of political leaders, military officers, diplomats, and opposition figures—that were selected as potential targets by the Moroccan client of the Israeli company NSO Group.
The Purge: Shockwaves Reach the Inner Circle of Power
Hijaouy’s defection triggered a crackdown of unprecedented scale within Morocco’s security establishment, reflecting the Palace’s deep concern over the secrets that may have left with the former General Controller.
Between March 2025 and February 2026, no fewer than 42 people were investigated, prosecuted, or convicted for “fraud” and “assisting a fugitive criminal.”
The shockwaves have now reached the heart of the state. Among those convicted or prosecuted are several police commissioners, as well as the brother of the security chief responsible for Crown Prince Moulay Hassan’s protection. Hijaouy’s ex-wife was sentenced in 2025 to three years in prison and is scheduled to face a new appeal trial in June 2026.
While his relatives and alleged associates face the full force of Morocco’s judicial system, the former senior DGED official remains untraceable.
An International Legal Battle
To downplay the importance of the fugitive, several media outlets close to the authorities in Rabat have sought to discredit him, portraying him as a low-level and incompetent agent who had been sidelined by the DGED as early as 2013.
This version is disputed by intelligence specialists, who argue that he occupied a central role within the security apparatus and served as chief of staff to Yassine Mansouri.
The case is now being fought on the international legal stage. Morocco is seeking an Interpol Red Notice against the former official, based on financial allegations. In response, his French lawyer, William Bourdon, has appealed to Interpol’s Commission for the Control of Files to have data relating to his client removed.
The defense argues that the proceedings are purely political and stem from the former official’s criticism of certain practices within Morocco’s security apparatus.
For nearly thirty years, Mehdi Hijaouy belonged to the system responsible for conducting covert operations and protecting the Palace’s secrets. Today, it is precisely what he knows—and the sensitivity of that information amid internal power realignments—that explains the determination of Palace officials to find him.
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