[15] The official reason given for his arrest was that—in April 2019, more than 6 months before his arrest—Radi tweeted critically of a Casablanca magistrate for delivering 20-years jail sentence of 42 activists, including Nasser Zefzafi, from the Hirak Rif Movement.

[22] In June 2020, Amnesty International reported it had found evidence that Omar Radi's personal cellphone had been infected with the Pegasus spyware of the Israeli technology firm NSO Group.

[25] As NSO Group publicly states that it sells its software exclusively to governments, Amnesty International concluded in its report that the surveillance was conducted by Moroccan authorities.

[27][28] The human rights group said its reporting provided the necessary proof, arguing in a 4 July statement that "the technology used to spy on Omar Radi's phone required the control over telephone operators, which only the government could exert in order to hack the Internet connection.

"[28] On 25 June and 2 July, authorities summoned Radi to appear before the National Judicial Police Brigade (الفرقة الوطنية للشرطة القضائية, BNPJ) for questioning.

"[30][31] The French newspaper le Monde reported that the Moroccan justice system suspects him of receiving "financial support from abroad" and having "links with a liaison officer from a foreign country" who has allegedly been "under diplomatic cover since 1979 in several regions of tension" throughout the world.

"[28] Both journalists were detained overnight and released on 6 June, pending an investigation into allegations of "public intoxication, violence, insult, and filming without permission," according to court documents.