Researcher Expelled from Western Sahara While Studying Renewable Energy Impact

Cantoni has been conducting research for years on the repercussions on society of the construction of renewable energies. It was in this context that he went to Laâyoune in the Moroccan Sahara, he recounts in a video posted on Monday on Twitter by the Sahrawi platform Equipe Media.

The University of Barcelona researcher says he received a visit on Sunday from "two Moroccan national security agents" who forced him "to get into a taxi" heading to Agadir, where he is currently located.

"This is not the first time this has happened to a researcher and I think people need to know that the Moroccan occupation forces continue to prevent researchers and journalists from doing their job," he lamented in the video.

The French pro-Sahara lawyer, Elise Taullet, would also have been prevented by the Moroccan authorities from entering Laâyoune at the end of April, where she was going by taxi from Rabat, who would then have forced her to return to Agadir in another taxi.