Morocco Expels French Journalists Investigating Royal Family and Human Rights

The two French journalists, Quentin Müller and Thérèse di Campo, were arrested early Wednesday morning in the hotel in Casablanca where they were staying. About ten agents told them they had to leave the kingdom, without giving more details, explained Khaled Drareni, head of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Africa, to EFE.

The official said the two reporters were taken to the airport to board a flight to Marseille. But since neither of them lived in that French city, they asked to go to Paris, he explains. During their stay in Morocco, the two journalists had been in contact with members of the opposition and said they felt under surveillance by the kingdom’s security services.

"This arrest is purely political," one of them denounced on X (formerly Twitter), specifying that he and his colleague were working "on the economic, social and liberticide violence of the Moroccan regime, driven by the all-powerful king, his court and his ultra-repressive security services." The reporter announced the imminent publication of an "exclusive" investigation on Mohammed VI, which "depicts a regime that is becoming increasingly harsh, frightened by any local desire for protest."

For the journalist, their French nationality saved them from prison, because "several courageous and talented journalists are rotting in prison (in Morocco), falsely accused of rape or intimidated with dishonest methods." This expulsion is "unacceptable," "arbitrary" and "undermines press freedom in Morocco," deplores the head of RSF.