Morocco has summoned the French ambassador in Rabat to protest against a French lawsuit filed against the head of Morocco's domestic intelligence for alleged complicity in torture, the foreign ministry said on Saturday. It was a rare diplomatic spat between France and Morocco, a former French colony and strong ally of Paris which has faced criticism from rights groups over police abuses, press freedom and judicial independence. The lawsuit filed by Moroccan activists in France accuses the Moroccan intelligence service, k**wn by its French acronym DST, of torturing them while in detention in Morocco. During a visit by DST chief Abdellatif Hammouchi to France this week, French police ******rs went to the Moroccan embassy to ask about him, the Moroccan statement said.