In a statement, ANME said it has collected testimonies and statements from journalists who were part of the official Moroccan delegation, in which they recount the suffering they were subjected to for more than six hours, as well as the abject forms of treatment they endured by the various Algerian security services, despite the fact that the journalists have provided all the documents, data and cards attesting to their identity.
The Algerian authorities have refused access to the official Moroccan media delegation via a direct airline, the statement said, adding that the Moroccan journalists were forced to travel by plane via Paris to arrive in Algiers to perform their professional duty, before they were subjected to what looks like arbitrary detention, denying them the status of journalists, dispossessing them of their equipment and cameras, and allowing them access to Algerian territory as mere citizens.
Faced with these heinous acts, which have been repeated for the second time in less than three months with Moroccan media delegations, ANME expressed its condemnation of this uncivilized behavior which shows the absence of a civil state in this Maghreb country that is attached to the freedom of press, expression and movement of journalists so that they can report the information independently, a state substituted to a military barracks having the control of the movements of foreigners and journalists and which considers as an enemy any person coming from Morocco.
The association also denounced the excessive police and intelligence treatment to which the colleagues of “Al Aoula” were exposed, by forcing them to return to Morocco, without being able to ensure the coverage of an Arab summit attended by Morocco, adding that this attitude reveals the true nature of the slogan peddled by the Algerian government for this summit, namely the good neighborliness and unification of peoples and Arab countries which is, in fact, a mere allegation.
It called on the honest and free Algerian media to denounce these recurring actions against the Moroccan media, inviting the international professional bodies to officially denounce this attitude.
The association said it reserves the right to take all legal steps at the national and international levels to do justice to the Moroccan media in the face of Algerian arrogance and the mentality of inward-looking.
Source: Agency Morocaine De Presse