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Rabat – A Moroccan woman residing abroad has denounced the bad quality of the escort services at Casablanca’s Mohammed V airport, decrying the humiliation she faced alongside eight elders and disabled people at the airport on Monday.
In addition to writing an open letter to the director of Morocco’s National Airports Office (ONDA), the Moroccan passenger, Meriem Abouri, took to Facebook in the early hours of Tuesday to vent her frustration. The woman said she endured moments of “bitterness” after being received in her country in a “humiliating manner.”
Abouri landed in Morocco on Monday, July 25, at 9 p.m for the first time in three years. Upon her arrival, the Moroccan national coming from France’s Lille was surprised alongside eight elders and disabled people to learn that there was only one escort available to assist them.
“Instead of nine escorts coming, one escort came, without wheelchairs, and (we were put) in the elevator designated to get off the plane, without chairs, as if we were rams,” Abouri explained in the post. Unable to keep their balance, the passengers were at risk of slipping and falling from the elevator.
The passengers protested their mistreatment, the Moroccan national said, but they were faced with two options: They had to either walk past the administrative procedure with the sole support of their crutches, or wait for more than an hour for the arrival of other escorts.
Abouri, a female passenger, and two male passengers chose to wait behind. “We insisted on our right to be treated humanely, and [on] our right to an escort that respects our dignity and humanity,” she said.
Meanwhile, she added, the remaining passengers “gave up and decided to go without wheelchairs, despite the difficulty of walking.”
Later on, another escort came to assist the four passengers but he was alone and had only one chair with him. With Abouri being the “most disabled among them,” she said, the passengers insisted that she would benefit from the service “despite their fatigue and pain.”
Read Also: Morocco to Promote Rights of People With Disabilities
One passenger accompanied Abouri reclining on the wheelchair to be able to walk. Abouri noted in the letter that she does not know what happened to the other two passengers, but she said she urged her escort to contact his supervisors to send escorts and wheelchairs to the passengers who had been left behind.
Abouri stressed that she continued to face humiliation and mistreatment even after receiving assistance. “After the administrative procedures were completed, and my bag was taken, my escort refused to take me outside where my friend and family were waiting for me,” the passenger added.
Addressing Laklalech, she added, “So imagine, Madam, how a lady with crutches and a travel bag could get out of the airport door, and join her family.”
The “insulting” act made Abouri burst into frustration, screaming at the escort and asking him to “complete” his service. The escort then left her alone at the arrival gate, where she had to stand up with the assistance of her crutches to look for family and friends who she couldn’t see through the crowd.
Over the past years, Morocco has worked toward providing inclusive public spaces and services and lifetime financial assistance to facilitate the lives of disabled people. However, this segment of the population continues to face difficulties when accessing public institutions and means of transportation such as trains and buses that are not equipped to accommodate their needs.
Frustrated after the mistreatment and helplessness she felt, Abouri said that she couldn’t stop her tears after meeting her friend and family members.
Recalling how her joy to visit Morocco quickly shifted to bitterness, the Moroccan passenger noted that she continues to love her country despite the “abuse and insult” she faced on Monday. She then called upon ONDA’s director to hold the responsible people accountable for the mismanagement of the escort services, hoping that her message will reach the decision-makers.
“I love my country and will continue to love it as long as I live, and such humiliating situations will not make me not see the development that it experiences and not praise it,” Abouri said.
