The Moroccan ministry of foreign affairs is convinced that Unesco’s division of Freedom of Expression and Media Development, headed by South Africa’s Guy Berger, contributed financially to the Forbidden Stories investigation, which directly implicates the Moroccan security services and its use of Pegasus spyware (a claim that Rabat denies).
In response, the security services has informed Unesco’s director-general Audrey Azoulay (daughter of André Azoulay, an advisor to King Mohammed VI) of its suspicions.
According to internal Unesco documents that we managed to obtain, Freedom Voices Network – which founded the Forbidden Stories project – did indeed apply for a grant from the Unesco Global Media Defence Fund in 2020, which was approved on 12 October 2020.