A Moroccan court on Monday sentenced journalist and human rights activist Omar Radi to six years in jail on charges of espionage and rape, offences which he has denied.

Radi's trial opened in June last year, just days after rights group Amnesty International charged that Moroccan authorities had planted Israel-made Pegasus spyware on his cellphone.

Rabat denied the report at the time, and on Monday the authorities "categorically rejected" using Israeli spyware to monitor critics at home and abroad.

... On Monday Amnesty in a statement labelled the proceedings "flawed" and "not justice", and called for "a fair retrial in line with international standards".

Monday's ruling came as Morocco said it "never acquired computer software to infiltrate communication devices".