Journalist Marcela Turati always suspected the Mexican authorities were spying on her. Now she's almost certain, after appearing in a leaked list at the center of a global spyware scandal.

"People have written to me saying: 'Look, you weren't crazy, you weren't paranoid,'" she told AFP on Monday.

Some 15,000 Mexican smartphone numbers were among more than 50,000 believed to have been selected by clients of Israeli firm NSO Group for potential surveillance, according to an international media investigation.

They include numbers linked to 25 journalists and even President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's inner circle before he took office.

Although the Mexican license for Pegasus software acquired under former president Enrique Pena Nieto expired in 2017, Turati believes that monitoring continues in other ways.

"Almost all journalists in Mexico know and feel that we are under some kind of surveillance," the award-winning reporter said.

"It's something that is assumed, especially because Mexico is among the most dangerous countries to practice the profession," the 47-year-old said.

The revelations emerged over the weekend as part of a collaborative investigation by The Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde, Mexico's Aristegui Noticias and other media outlets.

One of the Mexican journalists on the list was murdered in 2017 after criticizing alleged links between politicians and criminals.

Cecilio Pineda was one of more than 100 journalists murdered since 2000 in Mexico, one of the world's deadliest countries for reporters.

At the time that Turati appears to have been targeted through NSO, she and two colleagues were investigating the corruption scandal engulfing Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht.

Emilio Lozoya, a former top advisor to Pena Nieto, has alleged that Odebrecht bribes were funneled to the ex-leader's presidential campaign.

Turati also investigated massacres of migrants and the disappearance of 43 teaching students in 2014, a case that drew widespread international condemnation.

Relatives of the missing students and human rights defenders were also targeted through NSO, according to the international probe by the Pegasus Project.

- 'Nobody's spied on' -

Lopez Obrador, in power since 2018, has not commented directly on the revelations.

But he alluded to them in comments Monday related to the case of a missing journalist, saying that "nobody's spied on anymore. Freedoms are guaranteed."

The leaked list of smartphone numbers did not include Lopez Obrador himself, according to Aristegui Noticias.

The leftist leader "apparently did not use a personal cell phone" and communicated through his aides, it said.

NSO insists its software is only intended for use in fighting terrorism and other crimes.

Mexico was the first country in the world to buy Pegasus from NSO "and became something of a laboratory for the spy technology," according to The Guardian.

Mexican agencies that have acquired the spyware include the defense ministry, the attorney general's office and the national security intelligence service, it said.

Lopez Obrador's wife, children, brother and even his cardiologist were among those selected for potential surveillance using Pegasus malware between 2016 and 2017, according to Aristegui Noticias.

At the time, Lopez Obrador was the opposition leader and political rival of Pena Nieto.

Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, cabinet ministers and other officials of the current government were also identified as potential targets, it said.

There was a "persecutory practice of political espionage used by the old regime," Sheinbaum told Aristegui Noticias, whose director Carmen Aristegui also appears to have been targeted.

Hungary denies using Pegasus spyware as opposition cries foul
Budapest (AFP) July 19, 2021 - Hungary denied media reports on Monday that it used secret software to infiltrate the smartphones of investigative journalists and other public figures.

"The government has no knowledge of this type of data collection," Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a press conference, adding that Hungary's civilian intelligence agency did not use the Pegasus software "in any way".

Media reports on Sunday claimed governments in several countries around the world had used spyware technology developed by Israel-based NSO Group to infiltrate the smartphones of potentially tens of thousands of people.

Hungary was the only EU country named on a list of leaked telephone numbers.

According to the reports, phones monitored in Hungary included those of two investigative journalists, the owner of a news site critical of the government, an opposition mayor and several lawyers.

Janos Stummer of the opposition Jobbik party, who serves as head of the parliamentary National Security Committee, demanded "consequences".

Stummer sought to convene the committee to question intelligence chiefs, and Szijjarto said the secret service head would attend the meeting if called.

The committee's vice-president Janos Halasz, a member of Orban's ruling Fidesz that has a majority on the committee, said however that the body did not need to meet.

The "left-wing" press reports were "unfounded", said Halasz.

The National Association of Hungarian Journalists (MUOSZ) said it was "shocked" by the revelations.

"If this is the case, it is unacceptable, outrageous and illegal, full information must be disclosed to the public immediately," the association said in a statement.

The reports "bring shame to the country", said Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony, who hopes to run against Orban at a general election next year.

"The government owes answers," he said.

Morocco denies using Pegasus spyware against journalists and others
Rabat (AFP) July 19, 2021 - Morocco said Monday it "categorically rejects" claims its intelligence services had used Israeli spyware Pegasus to monitor critics at home and abroad, a government statement read.

Rabat said it had "never acquired computer software to infiltrate communication devices" and denied it had "infiltrated the phones of several national and international public figures and heads of international organisations through computer software".

A joint investigation by several Western media outlets said Sunday that numerous activists, journalists, executives and politicians around the world had been spied on using the software developed by Israeli firm NSO.

The media outlets, including The Washington Post, The Guardian and Le Monde, drew links between NSO Group and a list of tens of thousands of smartphone numbers, including those of activists, journalists, business executives and politicians around the world.

Many numbers on the list were clustered in 10 countries, including Morocco.

Rabat expressed its "great astonishment" at the reports.

These are "false allegations devoid of any foundation," the statement read.

"Morocco... guarantees the secrecy of personal communications ...to all citizens and foreign residents in Morocco", it added.

Pegasus is a highly invasive tool that can switch on a target's phone camera and microphone, as well as access data on the device, effectively turning a phone into a pocket spy.

In some cases, it can be installed without the need to trick a user into initiating a download.

NSO has denied any wrongdoing.

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Pegasus scandal shows risk of Israel's spy-tech diplomacy: experts
Jerusalem (AFP) July 19, 2021
Reports that Israel-made Pegasus spyware has been used to monitor activists, journalists and politicians around the world highlight the diplomatic risks of nurturing and exporting "oppressive technology", experts warned Monday. Private Israeli firm NSO Group has denied media reports its Pegasus software is linked to the mass surveillance of journalists and rights defenders, and insisted that all sales of its technology are approved by Israel's defence ministry. Founded in 2010 and based in Herzl ... read more