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Rabat – Algeria’s Embassy in Morocco has stirred controversy — and mockery — for blurring a photo of King Mohammed VI with Algerian ambassador Abdelhamid Abdaoui.
According to many reports, the embassy deleted the photo after commenters and critics mocked the embassy for editing the photo intentionally.
Critics noticed the photo when the embassy announced a meeting between Abdaoui and Anne Holglund, the Swedish ambassador to Morocco.
Visible in the background of the picture the Algerian embassy shared of the Abdaoui-Hoglund meeting is a shelf with a small library that appears to include a blurred photo.
The original photo allegedly showed Abdaoui with King Mohammed VI on January 22, 2020, when the Algerian ambassador handed his credentials to the King.
Despite the embassy’s decision to delete the photo, some Algerian media published the same photo to announce the meeting between Abdaoui and Holglund.
Radio Algerie Internationale published the photo to announce the meeting between the two diplomats, showing a blurred photo in a shelf where the two ambassadors posed for a photo.
Moroccans quickly reacted to the photo, pointing out the Algerian embassy’s “bizarre” and “hilarious” attempt to edit out the background image.
“Unfortunately, the photo is unclear and blurry. But I remember this photo very well. It dates back to when the Algerian ambassador to Morocco was in front of his majesty King Mohammed VI and bowed for him to show respect and appreciation,” a Facebook user wrote.
Read Also: Moroccans Launch Hashtags to Denounce Algeria’s Hostility Toward King, Morocco
Others posted short videos of the ambassador bowing before the King when presenting his credentials.
“Why is the photo blurred? Because it shows the ambassador bowing before the King of Morocco,” another Facebook user wrote.
The episode comes after yet another low point in the Algeria-Morocco relations after an Algerian television channel aired a program caricaturing King Mohammed VI.
Morocco’s officials reacted in chorus to the provocative program, calling on Algeria to show responsibility and refrain from acts that would cause more rift between the two countries.
Many of the officials suggested that Morocco’s progress in different areas is the main source behind Algeria’s obsession with Morocco.
Unable to appease domestic public outrage by meeting Algerians’ demands, the regime in Algiers is resorting to picking up a feud with a perceived foreign “threat” or “enemy” to divert public anger, some commentators suggested.
Moroccan citizens, meanwhile, strongly condemned the caricaturing of their King with several hashtags defending the monarchy as a “sacred” aspect of Morocco’s identity and integrity.
“ Our King is a red line,” many commented in reaction to the caricatured depiction of King Mohammed VI.
