Algeria expels four Moroccan journalists

The Moroccan Press Union (French acronym SNPM) denounced the "sequestration," on Saturday, of four Moroccan journalists in Algiers' Houari Boumediene airport, describing it as a "dangerous aggravation."

Algerian authorities held the Moroccan journalists for many hours in the airport and subjected them to a "tough interrogation."

The journalists had flown to the Algerian capital to cover the activities of a Moroccan NGO, which was to hold a number of meetings with the Algerian civil society. The journalists were then expelled to Rome.

A press release of the Union described Algerian authorities' confiscation of the passports and the plane tickets of the Moroccan journalists, and their refusal to let them contact the Moroccan representations in Algiers as "a serious repressive act."

Upon their arrival to Casablanca airport, the journalists said they were subjected to an "inhumane treatment unworthy of the good relations between the Algerian and the Moroccan peoples."

"We have been detained from 10:30 am to 5:00 pm (local time) without any explicit reason in a room (...) with African illegal immigrants," deplored Mounir Al Kantaoui of Al Baidaoui weekly.

"They treated us like illegal immigrants, or like passengers holding forged passports or visas," he added.

Chafai Mohamed Salem, of "Al Ahdath Al Maghribia" daily affirmed that when they arrived to Rome, Italian authorities were "astonished" because "we didn't have a document that explains the expulsion or the causes of this decision."

The Moroccan Press Union called on several international organizations to denounce such acts, asking Algerian authorities to present excuses for this incident.