Moroccan Journalists Denied Entry to Algeria for Mediterranean Games Coverage

The Moroccan Association of Sports Press (AMPS) and the Moroccan Alliance of Sports Journalists (AMJS) consider the behavior of the Algerian authorities as an obstacle to the rights of these journalists to fully exercise their profession. The two associations condemn and denounce the fact that the delegation of sports journalists was forced to spend the night at the airport in "deplorable conditions", despite the interventions of the Moroccan National Olympic Committee, the Moroccan Consulate General in Oran and the members of the International Committee of the Mediterranean Games.

Concerned about the safety and protection of the Moroccan delegation, the AMJS and the AMPS call on all the supervisory international institutions "to take emergency action to protect the Moroccan media delegation". Tired and dissatisfied with the treatment reserved for them, some journalists have decided to return to Morocco. This is the case of a journalist from the Le Matin group. "We arrived at Tunis airport after waiting for more than 30 hours at Oran Ben Bella airport and we thank the Moroccan authorities for all the efforts made," she said in a post on her Instagram account.

While Moroccan journalists are being mistreated, the athletes themselves have received a warm welcome, as if nothing had happened. An attitude that some describe as incomprehensible.