STRASBOURG – An email sent by diplomatic advisor to the Moroccan parliament Mounir al-Jaffali to members of the European Parliament stated that a motion filed on Jan. 17 for a resolution involving the case of a Moroccan journalist is “baseless”.
The advisor claimed that the document ignores Morocco’s achievements concerning human rights, rule of law, and good government.
The letter was sent ahead of a vote on the resolution, which condemns violations of the rights of journalists in the North African country.
The resolution centers on the case of a journalist named Omar Radi.
ANSA has seen the letter, which claims that the resolution simply aims to harm Morocco’s image and its partnership with the EU.
The resolution, promoted by Renew Europe, was due to be discussed in a plenary session on Wednesday afternoon and voted on the following day.
The email sent by the diplomatic advisor analyses the draft resolution point by point, noting which parts in his opinion are true and which are false.
Jaffali denied conditions for the media have deteriorated over the past decade and that numerous journalists have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for their work, as well as that the since 2018 the Morocco authorities have accused several independent journalists of sexual crimes to negatively affect their reporting.
MEPs from Italy’s Five Star Movement Fabio Massimo Castaldo and Sabrina Pignedoli responded in a statement saying that they considered it a “serious matter that political representatives and officials of a third country try to condition the resolutions and political activities of the European Union”.
