Following the multiple acts of marginalization, discrimination, abuse and harassment suffered by Moroccan journalists during their trip to cover the work of the Arab summit, the National Press Council has decided to send a letter denouncing the facts to the secretary of the Arab League as well as to the ambassadors of the Arab countries, calling for urgent intervention.
The first recipient of the letter sent by the National Press Council is Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary General of the Arab League, followed by the ambassadors of Arab countries present in Morocco. Its purpose is to condemn the ban and the abuses against the Moroccan delegation during its professional trip to cover the 31st Arab League summit organized in Algiers. It called on its speakers to react and intervene urgently with of the authorities concerned to allow Moroccan journalists to exercise their profession.
In its letter, the Council declared that this series of reactions on the part of the Algerian authorities completely contradicts the diplomatic norms and obligations, in particular towards the Arab League, which the State is supposed to respect.
It should be recalled that the delegation was the subject of various forms of harassment, despite the correct execution of the administrative procedures imposed by the Algerian authorities and yet since its arrival at the airport of the Algerian capital, it has faced systematic repression.
In the same context, the Council referred to the detention of the delegation of Moroccan journalists at this airport for long hours, as well as the expulsion of some of them without any legal justification. In addition, the Algerian authorities seized the delegation’s equipment, namely the cameras and work computers in addition to the poor and provocative treatment of the Algerian police and airport personnel.
The National Press Council stressed that these repressive and intimidating practices by the Algerian authorities had become systematic against Moroccan journalists. This is not the first time this has happened, Algeria has already expelled Moroccan journalists who traveled to Oran to cover the activities of the Mediterranean Games and were detained on the pretext that they are spies and do part of the intelligence service.
He regrets that the Algerian neighbor could not respect, as a member of the Arab League organizing the summit, the obligations towards the freedom of the press. For this, the Council calls for an emergency intervention to reframe the situation and allow the delegation of the Moroccan press to fulfill its professional duty.