Morocco Expels French Journalists for Entering as Tourists Without Press Credentials

"These two journalists entered Morocco as tourists. [...] They did not request any authorization and did not declare that they were journalists. They were expelled on the basis of an administrative decision, in accordance with the provisions of the law," Mustapha Baitas explained during the weekly press briefing on Thursday. He also stated that "more than 310 foreign journalists, representing 90 international media" including a quarter, or 78 correspondents representing 16 media, are French nationals had covered the powerful and devastating earthquake that shook Morocco.

"Thirteen of them were accredited during the earthquake and three had permanent accreditation, despite the fact that the coverage, in some cases, was not objective," added the government spokesman. If these journalists did not experience a similar situation to those from the Marianne magazine, it is because they "worked in transparency and freedom, and had contacted citizens and victims," he further explained, before assuring: "Our country reaffirms that it respects press freedom and that no journalist is subjected to any kind of pressure."

Quentin Müller and his colleague Thérèse Di Campo were arrested on Wednesday morning at the Casablanca hotel where they were staying. "At 3 a.m., ten men dressed in civilian clothes arrested Thérèse Di Campo and me in Casablanca. We were taken away and forcibly expelled from the country without any explanation," Quentin Müller revealed in a post on X (Ex-Twitter), before denouncing an "purely political" arrest. "The subject of our research on the ground concerned the economic, social and libertarian violence of this Moroccan regime, animated by the all-powerful king, his court and his ultra-repressive security services," he specified.