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Join on Telegram Rabat – Mohamed Lotfi, a Canadian-Moroccan journalist, has addressed a letter to Canada’s government following its decision to ban flights from Morocco due to COVID-19.
The journalist shared the letter on his social networks, calling on Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to intervene on behalf of Moroccan residing in Canada and Canadian tourists stranded in Morocco.
“Over 11,000 Canadians are currently stranded in Morocco following Canada’s unilateral decision to suspend direct flights between Casablanca and Montreal.”
The journalist reported that no action had been taken to assist Moroccan diaspora members and Canadians stranded in Morocco, even after media outlets were granted interviews, “distress calls” and messages from MREs and Canadian citizens to the government.
Lotfi recalled that Trudeau encouraged Canadians to share their concerns with him, providing a phone number they could contact.
However, the journalist believes that Trudeau’s initiative is intended to boost his election campaign.
“We are in an election campaign. The strategy is to use social networks as much as possible to attract votes! It’s a fair game. It’s politics,” Lotfi said.
The journalist further encouraged people stranded in Morocco to use the letter he addressed to Trudeau to inform him of the crisis “many Canadians stranded in Morocco are going through.”
Lotfi condemned the decision to suspend flights from Morocco, saying that such an action is based on the discovery of a “few cases of PCR test fraud” originating in Morocco.
“I am not the only Canadian national who considers it too hasty. With all due respect, I think it goes against common sense to have thousands of Canadians “pay the price” of a few people who used fake PCR tests to travel,” the journalist explained.
The journalist invited the Canadian embassy in Rabat to consider other options to allow people to return home.
For Lotfi, the Canadian embassy could have designated a few trusted Moroccan laboratories to help Canadians pass the PCR test.
Recently, Morocco arrested several people for their involvement in fabricated PCR tests to travel abroad.
In August, Morocco’s public prosecutor announced that the police will crack down on fraud related to PCR tests.
The prosecutor also urged Moroccan security services to take “vigorous action” against anyone caught using or producing falsified documents that claim the subject tested negative for COVID-19.
According to the prosecutor’s office, there is an “increasingly frequent use of these practices” that does not only contradicts the law but also undermines public health.
