Rabat – Morocco’s National Press Council has condemned the EU parliament’s latest conclusions on the situation of press freedom in the North African country.
Sweeping conclusions
In a statement today, the Council denounced the EU Parliament’s January 19 resolution on the “state of journalists in Morocco,” taking issue with its misleading and overgeneralized conclusions.
In its draft resolution, the European Parliament urged Moroccan authorities to “put an end to the oppression that journalists, their families, and lawyers are subjected to.”
The Council’s statement disputed the resolution’s assessment, stressing that the EU cannot possibly conclude that “all Moroccan journalists” are under oppression by basing its evaluation on only three cases of legal prosecutions against Moroccan journalists who were charged in non-press-related cases.
Noting that it is the official body that rightfully represents and defends press freedom in Morocco, the council expressed its “surprise” at the EU’s sweeping resolution on the state of journalism in Morocco.
Biased international NGOs
The EU parliament has “adopted a single perspective – not in an unprecedented move – that foreign organizations sought to promote, and which is equally criticized by European voices,” it said
According to the Council, the foreign organizations seeking to stain Morocco’s reputation did not even bother to “follow the progress of the trials, or listen to the people who filed charges against the three journalists.”
Instead, they treated the victims in the three prosecution cases as “complicit suspects,” disregarding their right to seek justice, the Council fumed.
It wrote: “It is noteworthy that European countries and organizations are especially careful to ensure justice is served in the legal cases involving rape and sexual assault allegations. However, this principle was not observed for the victims who sought justice in Morocco.”
Of the EU’s overall assessment of freedom of press in Morocco, the council said it is based on “inaccurate reports from foreign organizations that are often biased and systematically seek to undermine Morocco’s image.”
By maintaining this anti-Morocco stance, the statement continued, these foreign organizations “totally ignore and undermine reports from Moroccan organizations and committees, in a blatant display of arrogance.”
The statement concluded that the EU parliament’s decision “has nothing to do with human rights; it is rather a desperate attempt to heap diplomatic pressure [on Morocco] for the benefit of some European countries that are still nostalgic about their age of dominance.”
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