Union of Press condemns hostility against Moroccan journalists in Algeria, calls Arab league to take responsibility

The union of Moroccan press condemned on Monday what they called the systematic aggression faced by Moroccan journalists in Algeria, with the latest incident taking place last week.

A number of Moroccan journalists belonging to the public TV channel Al Aoula who arrived in Algeria on Sunday to cover the Arab league summit were not granted permission to enter the country. Algerian officials said their number exceeded the quota granted to each country to respect, sources told Hespress.

Other journalists were kept waiting for 5 hours in the Algiers airport until the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Moroccan Consul General in Algeria intervened to let the journalists leave the airport to their hotels.

Their equipment was kept with airport security for monitoring.

The union said the journalists were stripped of their professional identity and were allowed to enter Algeria as only ordinary individuals.

“The National Union of the Moroccan Press, while condemning the harassment, detention, and confiscation of equipment and suspicious security investigations that Moroccan journalists were subjected to at Houari Boumediene Airport, affirms its absolute solidarity with fellow journalists who are victims of these disgraceful acts, calls upon officials in the League of Arab States to assume their full responsibility for what the delegation was subjected to,” the union said in a press release.

The Union said “this disgraceful act deprives Moroccans of their right to obtain information regarding the summit and the Moroccan participation. Therefore, the National Syndicate of the Moroccan Press considers that the Algerian authorities are no longer a trustworthy interlocutor, and therefore bear the responsibility for any form of abuse that a Moroccan journalist may be subjected to.”

“The General Secretariat of the League of Arab States bears joint responsibility for depriving the Moroccan media delegation of covering the work of the Arab Summit in decent and safe conditions,” it added.