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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Friday called on Moroccan officials to stop their efforts to suppress independent journalism in the disputed region of Western Sahara after the deportation of Italian freelance journalists.
CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said that the recent deportation highlights Morocco’s “repressive media blockade” in Western Sahara, emphasizing that “[a]uthorities must allow independent reporting from a region where transparency is already severely limited.”
Italian journalist Matteo Garavoglia and photographer Giovanni Colmoni, who reportedly intended to cover the human rights situation in Western Sahara, were trying to enter the territory of the capital city of Laayoune on April 27 but were swiftly arrested by security forces and then expelled from Morocco. Moroccan officials claimed that the journalists’ actions constituted a provocative act due to their lack of official authorization and previous attempt to enter the region by air.
Western Sahara is a lightly inhabited, resource-rich territory on the northwest coast of Africa. The area is a former Spanish colony that was annexed by Morocco in 1975, sparking a territorial dispute with the indigenous Sahrawi population. The rebellion ended under UN mediation in 1991, but a promised referendum on independence was never held. Morocco currently controls the western part, and the territory under the Polisario Front, a nationalist liberation movement of the indigenous Sahrawi, is separated by a buffer zone with mines and fortifications. Journalists require permission to report from the region.
Freedom of speech and association are restricted in Morocco and Western Sahara, with many international reporters forced out and numerous domestic journalists, activists, and leaders of protest movements being imprisoned for criticizing the government. Some measures used to strengthen control over information include defective legal processes on various accusations, unfair trials, and prolonged imprisonment.
The overall situation with human rights in Morocco and Western Sahara remains complicated as well. According to an Amnesty International report in 2024, Morocco and Western Sahara are marked by gender inequality, criminalization of same-sex relationships, inaccessibility of sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls, ineffective investigations into the crackdown on migrants and refugees, and malignant actions by the authorities against them.
The post Morocco deportation of Italy journalists in Western Sahara spurs international concern appeared first on JURIST - News.
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CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah said that the recent deportation highlights Morocco’s “repressive media blockade” in Western Sahara, emphasizing that “[a]uthorities must allow independent reporting from a region where transparency is already severely limited.”
Italian journalist Matteo Garavoglia and photographer Giovanni Colmoni, who reportedly intended to cover the human rights situation in Western Sahara, were trying to enter the territory of the capital city of Laayoune on April 27 but were swiftly arrested by security forces and then expelled from Morocco. Moroccan officials claimed that the journalists’ actions constituted a provocative act due to their lack of official authorization and previous attempt to enter the region by air.
Western Sahara is a lightly inhabited, resource-rich territory on the northwest coast of Africa. The area is a former Spanish colony that was annexed by Morocco in 1975, sparking a territorial dispute with the indigenous Sahrawi population. The rebellion ended under UN mediation in 1991, but a promised referendum on independence was never held. Morocco currently controls the western part, and the territory under the Polisario Front, a nationalist liberation movement of the indigenous Sahrawi, is separated by a buffer zone with mines and fortifications. Journalists require permission to report from the region.
Freedom of speech and association are restricted in Morocco and Western Sahara, with many international reporters forced out and numerous domestic journalists, activists, and leaders of protest movements being imprisoned for criticizing the government. Some measures used to strengthen control over information include defective legal processes on various accusations, unfair trials, and prolonged imprisonment.
The overall situation with human rights in Morocco and Western Sahara remains complicated as well. According to an Amnesty International report in 2024, Morocco and Western Sahara are marked by gender inequality, criminalization of same-sex relationships, inaccessibility of sexual and reproductive health services for women and girls, ineffective investigations into the crackdown on migrants and refugees, and malignant actions by the authorities against them.
The post Morocco deportation of Italy journalists in Western Sahara spurs international concern appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.