According to Carlos Ruiz Miguel, « the important interview-article from Le Canard enchaîné about Mehdi Hijaouy—the former number two of Moroccan foreign intelligence and SUBSEQUENTLY ADVISOR TO VICEROY HIMMA, who fled Morocco—contains IMPORTANT REVELATIONS:
1. Confirms that the invasion of Ceuta was orchestrated by the Moroccan VICEROY, El Himma, which NECESSARILY implies it had the sultan’s approval.
2. Confirms that regarding the Pegasus spying, NOT ONLY was Hammouchi and the DGST involved, but ALSO El Himma.
3. Confirms that after working in foreign intelligence (DGED), Hijaoui was a collaborator of viceroy El Himma.
4. Confirms that the multi-decorated Hammouchi tortured Zakaria Moumni.
5. REVEALS that with Pegasus, Morocco spied on the 2018 African Union summit in Kigali.
6. Confirms that Hijaoui was a refugee first in France, then in Spain, and now states he is in ‘another country’ that is safer.
Here is the full text of the interview:
The confessions of the former spy chief making the kingdom tremble
Published September 8, 2026 By Jérôme Canard
Fleeing abroad for his safety, Mehdi Hijaouy, a former top official in Moroccan intelligence, confesses to «Le Canard» state secrets affecting Rabat and Paris. He brings up the Ceuta «refugees» affair, the Pegasus case and the wiretapping of political figures, the kidnapping of boxer Zakaria Moumni…
The man has a lot of scores to settle and is no choirboy. But Mehdi Hijaouy, whom «Le Canard» located abroad where he is hiding, has a great ace up his sleeve. Until 2014, he was the number two at the DGED, the foreign intelligence service of the Sharifian kingdom—the Moroccan equivalent of the DGSE—before taking on other responsibilities. And if he knows well the covert operations he denounces, it’s because he participated in some of them.
The Ceuta «refugees» affair—those 70,000 young Moroccans who, last July 30, forced the border of the Spanish enclave located just a few jet-ski lengths from the Moroccan king’s summer residence—is not one of them. Hijaouy, however, says he has plenty of information about a maneuver carried out, according to him, by two strategists he worked closely with at one time: Abdellatif Hammouchi, the kingdom’s police chief, and especially Fouad Ali El Himma, Mohammed VI’s right-hand man, known as «the viceroy», to whom the former spy chief was once an advisor.
Pegasus belli
The existence of a plot hatched by Rabat to destabilize the Spanish government was substantiated on September 3 by a report from the Spanish border police, which highlighted the « total permissiveness » of Moroccan law enforcement and their responsibility in the « violation of the Spanish border and that of the European Union. » « How can so many people head toward the border without either the viceroy or the police chief being notified? » wonders Hijaouy, who notes that in the twenty-seven-year reign of Mohammed VI, terrorism and organized crime have not caused this many deaths. More than 140 subjects of His Majesty, in fact, drowned in July’s disastrous operation.
Another radioactive affair? The Pegasus file. Having followed it closely, Hijaouy confirms in every detail the meticulous investigation conducted by IT experts from Amnesty International and the Forbidden Stories media collective. It concluded that Pegasus, an Israeli spyware created in 2013 that infects mobile phones, had been used by Moroccan services against numerous prominent figures. These wiretaps reportedly targeted Emmanuel Macron, Édouard Philippe, and several French journalists, as well as Pedro Sánchez, the head of the Spanish government. At the controls of this cyber-spying were, once again, the El Himma-Hammouchi tandem. « They are ready to wiretap the devil if necessary, » Hijaouy laughs. According to him, technicians from the Israeli startup NSO Group presented their spyware to Hammouchi in Rabat in February 2017, and the latter asked for it to be tested on… his own phone. The super-cop reportedly declared himself thrilled with the result, and Morocco then « tested » it by tapping African heads of state during the extraordinary summit in Kigali in March 2018.
Hijaouy also mentions purely Moroccan affairs, such as the leak of sensitive information on Telegram affecting 70,000 agents of internal intelligence (the DGST) and the national police. He indicates that « a DGST team tasked with investigations aimed at compromising Moroccan officials (recently) defected. » With all their secrets?
He also returns to a case revealed in 2011 by «Le Canard». A year earlier, kickboxing world champion Zakaria Moumni, who had approached the king to request a job, was kidnapped and tortured at the secret center in Témara (also used by the CIA as a annex to Guantanamo). On site, he formally identified among his abusers a certain Abdellatif Hammouchi, who was then head of counter-intelligence.
In 2014, the Paris prosecutor’s office opened an investigation targeting Hammouchi, and a French judge summoned him. Despite the signing of an astounding custom-made judicial agreement between the two states that led to the case being dismissed, the diplomatic crisis took years to resolve.
By the punch of the law
Hijaouy, who followed this case closely, confirms the boxer’s account: « Moumni was arrested at the airport, brought to intelligence service premises, and subjected to violence in the presence of Hammouchi. I saw him when he arrived at the judicial police, escorted by DST agents (predecessor to the DGST): his face was swollen and he could barely stand up. »
Epilogue of the story? To seal the bilateral reconciliation in 2024, Hammouchi (who was made a knight of the Legion of Honor a few years earlier) was awarded the French police’s « gold medal of honor. » It must be said that his services had assisted those in charge of security for the Olympic Games… As for Moumni, who became a French citizen in 2012, he was harassed—and threatened—by Moroccan agents sent to France, to the point of obtaining political asylum in Canada!
But can one really offend a regime that keeps such close tabs on French leaders?
The hideout or the dungeon
The fugitive interviewed by «Le Canard» is no low-level operative. At 53, Mehdi Hijaouy worked within several spheres of Mohammed VI’s apparatus: foreign intelligence (where he headed the Action service), security service coordination, and the cabinet of Fouad Ali El Himma, the king’s top advisor. In other words, until 2024, he had a front-row seat to the clan wars waged around a monarch in declining health.
Unfortunately, by announcing his support in 2021 for the brothers Abu and Ottman Azaitar—two MMA fighters close to the king and hated by El Himma and internal intelligence chief Abdellatif Hammouchi—Hijaouy backed the wrong horse. Accused of treason, fraud, and membership in a criminal organization (Libération, June 7), he had to make a quiet exit in 2024 before taking refuge in France and then Spain—two states now eager (bad luck!) to please Rabat. Today, he is in a safer country. Formally trained by the Israeli Mossad, he knows that secrets are his best life insurance policy… »
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