Current:Home > Back2 French journalists expelled from Morocco as tensions revive between Rabat and Paris-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
2 French journalists expelled from Morocco as tensions revive between Rabat and Paris
View Date:2024-12-23 21:06:27
PARIS (AP) — Two French journalists have been expelled from Morocco this week in a move denounced by media outlets and press freedom advocates.
Staff reporter Quentin Müller and freelancer photojournalist Thérèse Di Campo, who work for the weekly Marianne magazine, said on Wednesday that they were taken by force from their Casablanca hotel room by 10 plainclothes police officers and put on the first flight to Paris.
Both Müller and Stéphane Aubouard, an editor at Marianne, said the expulsions were politically motivated in response to critical reporting.
Morocco denied the charge and said their removal was about procedure, not politics. However, media activists framed it as the latest action taken by Moroccan authorities against journalists.
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Müller linked their expulsions to broader concerns about retaliation against journalists in Morocco.
“We were removed and forcibly expelled from the country without any explanation. This speaks a lot to the repressive atmosphere in Morocco,” he said, noting that he and Di Campo — neither based in Morocco — had traveled to the country to pursue critical reporting on the rule of King Mohammed VI, a topic considered taboo in the North African nation.
In a subsequent op-ed, Aubouard said the two went to Morocco following this month’s devastating earthquake that killed nearly 3,000 people. He said the expulsions “confirm the difficulty that foreign and local journalists have working in the country.”
Morocco has garnered some international condemnation in recent years for what many see as its efforts to infringe on press freedoms. At least three Moroccan journalists who have reported critically on government actions are in prison, convicted of crimes unrelated to journalism.
The Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders both denounced the expulsions on X, with the latter describing them as a “brutal and inadmissible attack on press freedom.”
Moroccan government spokesperson Mustapha Baitas said on Thursday the expulsions were a matter of procedure, not politics. He said that neither journalist had sought accreditation, which is required by journalists under Moroccan law.
Baitas said Müller and Di Campo entered the country as tourists. “They neither requested accreditation nor declared their intent to engage in journalistic activities,” he told reporters at a news conference in Rabat on Thursday.
“Our nation firmly upholds the values of freedom and transparency and is committed to enabling all journalists to perform their duties with absolute freedom,” he added.
The expulsions come amid broader criticism of French media in Morocco.
In a separate development Wednesday, Morocco’s National Press Board published a formal complaint to France’s Council for Journalistic Ethics and Mediation against two media outlets, the satiric weekly Charlie Hebdo and the daily Libération, saying their reporting had violated ethical norms and spread fake news while attacking Morocco and its institutions for their earthquake response.
Tensions have spiked lately between Morocco and France, with Rabat recalling the kingdom’s ambassador to France at the start of the year, without sending a replacement.
After the earthquake, France was not among the four countries chosen by Morocco for search-and-rescue assistance — a move scrutinized in both French and international media. French President Emmanuel Macron in a video on social media later appealed for an end to controversies that “divide and complicate” things at “such a tragic moment.”
The kingdom’s Interior Ministry had cautioned that an overflow of poorly coordinated aid “would be counterproductive” and said it planned to accept assistance later.
veryGood! (71342)
Related
- 'America's flagship' SS United States has departure from Philadelphia to Florida delayed
- Sofía Vergara Shares Glimpse Inside Italian Vacation Amid Joe Manganiello Breakup
- Come Out to the Coast and Enjoy These Secrets About Die Hard
- Pennsylvania Expects $400 Million in Infrastructure Funds to Begin Plugging Thousands of Abandoned Oil Wells
- Wendi McLendon-Covey talks NBC sitcom 'St. Denis Medical' and hospital humor
- Ariana Grande and Dalton Gomez Break Up After 2 Years of Marriage
- Kylie Jenner and Jordyn Woods Reunite 4 Years After Tristan Thompson Cheating Scandal
- Pacific Walruses Fight to Survive in the Rapidly Warming Arctic
- Why was Jalen Ramsey traded? Dolphins CB facing former team on 'Monday Night Football'
- Inside Lindsay Lohan and Bader Shammas’ Grool Romance As They Welcome Their First Baby
Ranking
- Michigan soldier’s daughter finally took a long look at his 250 WWII letters
- Global Warming Could Drive Pulses of Ice Sheet Retreat Reaching 2,000 Feet Per Day
- More Than a Decade of Megadrought Brought a Summer of Megafires to Chile
- Plastic Recycling Plant Could Send Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ Into the Susquehanna River, Polluting a Vital Drinking Water Source
- Will Trump’s hush money conviction stand? A judge will rule on the president-elect’s immunity claim
- Q&A: The ‘Perfect, Polite Protester’ Reflects on Her Sit-in to Stop a Gas Compressor Outside Boston
- In the Florida Panhandle, a Black Community’s Progress Is Threatened by a Proposed Liquified Natural Gas Plant
- Shell Sued Over Air Emissions at Pennsylvania’s New Petrochemical Plant
Recommendation
-
Investigation into Chinese hacking reveals ‘broad and significant’ spying effort, FBI says
-
Climate Change Forces a Rethinking of Mammoth Everglades Restoration Plan
-
States Test an Unusual Idea: Tying Electric Utilities’ Profit to Performance
-
Joe Jonas Admits He Pooped His White Pants While Performing On Stage
-
Ex-Marine misused a combat technique in fatal chokehold of NYC subway rider, trainer testifies
-
Nearly 1 in 5 Americans Live in Communities With Harmful Air Quality, Study Shows
-
A New Report Is Out on Hurricane Ian’s Destructive Path. The Numbers Are Horrific
-
RHONY's Bethenny Frankel and Jill Zarin Have Epic Reunion 13 Years After Feud