The press in Morocco has never been so free, prime minister

Moroccan Premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi said here Monday "Press in Morocco has never been as free as it is today."

Youssoufi who is currently on an official visit to Germany made the statement at a joint news conference with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, in the wake of The Moroccan government's decision (Saturday) to ban the publishing and circulation of three weeklies Le Journal, Demain and Assahifa, for having "deliberately attacked Morocco's most sacred institutional foundations."

The ban was decided after the weeklies published a dossier on the circumstances of the coup d'état of 1972, led by General Oufkir, and a letter reportedly by Mohamed Basri, a leftist leader, and sent in the seventies to the late first secretary of the USFP, Abderrahim Bouabib, and Abderrahmane Youssoufi, current USFP first secretary, showing they were involved in the coup attempt.

Youssoufi told reporters in Berlin his decision was motivated by "moral considerations as well as by the interest of the country and the interest of the freedom of the press." He denounced some papers that dedicate themselves, he said, "to discredit the country, harm its institutions and relate things that are harmful to the country's renown."

He added that "when some persons are only interested in sensational news and selling pieces of paper to Moroccan readers, I think that morale, the interest of the country and the interest of the press require that you defend this space against those who do not use it properly."