“If there are no reports on government corruption, it doesn’t exist, right?”

On Wednesday, 18 January 2023, MEP Irena Joveva (Renew Europe/Gibanje Svoboda) addressed the European Parliament during the plenary debate on the situation of journalists in Morocco. She highlighted the state of affairs regarding journalism in Morocco, where the Moroccan government is clamping down on journalists and silencing voices that report on government corruption. “If there are no reports on government corruption, it doesn’t exist, right?”, she said sharply.

According to the MEP, the Moroccan government only pays lip service to media pluralism, while the situation pertaining to journalism in the country is quite different. She stressed that, despite the fact that the right to information and the right to freedom of expression are enshrined in the Constitution, they are not respected.

“Journalists are extremely restricted in their activities, forced to self-censorship, and the right to report on corruption, the status of the monarchy and the status of Western Sahara is – to put it mildly – extremely curtailed.”

As Joveva added, there remains only one independent media outlet in Morocco, and its journalists are regularly harassed, persecuted, unjustly arrested or even imprisoned on false charges of illegal termination of pregnancy or sexual assault.

“All this and more, what the Moroccan government is doing, is outrageous. It is time for the EU not only to clearly condemn such practices, but to take even stronger action. Let this resolution be just a start. To the gentlemen who are defending such moves by the Moroccan government, I say again at this point: no, the resolution is not based on manipulated data, and no, we will not stand idly by and watch what you are doing.”

BACKGROUND

The plenary debate highlighted in particular the case of Omar Radi, a Moroccan investigative journalist and human rights activist who has reported on government corruption. He has been detained since 29 July 2020 and sentenced to six years in prison. The sentence was upheld by the court of appeal. According to the organisation dealing with human rights, the proceedings against Omar Radi involved serious violations of international fair trial standards.

You can watch the MEP’s full plenary speech in slovenian HERE.