Morocco Urged to Free Four Detained Journalists as RSF Calls for Press Freedom

RSF says it has contacted El Otmani, and pleaded for the release of four journalists detained in the kingdom, reports Hespress. These are Mohamed Asrihi, journalist for the website Rif24, Hamid El Mahdaoui, director of the website Badil.info, Abdelkbir El Hor, founder of the website Rassdmaroc, and Taoufik Bouachrine, director of publication of the newspaper Akhbar AlYaoum and the website AlYaoum24.

According to the NGO that promotes and defends the freedom to inform and be informed everywhere in the world, 73 journalists are currently detained in prisons in Africa. Egypt tops this blacklist with 26 journalists, followed by Eritrea (16), Cameroon (7), Burundi (4), Morocco (4), Algeria (3), Benin (1), Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Congo, Somalia and South Sudan.

According to RSF, "a number of these journalists are suffering from symptoms, in addition to prison overcrowding and poor detention conditions". The NGO calls for the release of all, the protection of press freedom and the free circulation of information at a time when the coronavirus is affecting almost all countries in the world.