Moroccan government confirms French journalists Muller and Di Campo deported over 'law violation'

On Thursday, 21 September, the Moroccan government confirmed the deportation of  two French journalists, Quentin Muller and Therese Di Campo, over "law violation and absence of work permit."

"The two returned French nationals did not request any authorisation for the coverage of the Al-Haouz earthquake," Mustapha Baitas, the government's spokesperson, stressed, specifying that they entered Morocco for tourism.

In this context, the spokesperson indicated that it is normal for them to be subject to "administrative expulsion by the decision of the competent authorities who have, in this regard, applied the provisions of the law."

Baitas also indicated that no less than 312 foreign journalists, representing 90 media outlets, participated in the coverage of this earthquake.

"Of this total, 78 journalists, or a quarter, were of French nationality and represented 16 media outlets, of which 13 were accredited for covering the earthquake, and three had permanent accreditations," explained the minister, dodging rumours that strained ties with Paris affected French reporters work in the country.

On Wednesday, French journalist Quentin Muller said ten men dressed in civilian clothes arrested him and his colleague Therese Di Campo at 3 a.m. in Casablanca. 

"We were taken away and forcibly expelled from the country without any explanation," wrote the journalist on platform X, formerly Twitter.

Muller confirmed that his entry to Morocco was not to cover the quake. Instead, the two French journalists were on a mission to report on "the economic and social violence of the Moroccan regime, driven by the all-powerful power of the king and his court," argued Muller in a thread on X.

For five days, the reporters investigated King Mohamed VI and met "Moroccan personalities under surveillance," Muller explained to AFP. 

"That's why we were arrested, there is no other explanation," he said, describing his arrest as "purely political."

The organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced, on the X platform (formerly Twitter), "a brutal and unacceptable attack on press freedom".

These expulsions came amid tensions between Morocco and France, skyrocketing in the aftermath of the earthquake that struck the North African Kingdom on 8 September.

Since then, Moroccan commentators have strongly criticised French media's coverage of the earthquake, deeming it impartial and biased against King Mohammed VI.

On Wednesday, Morocco's National Press Council (CNP) announced in a press release that it had sent a complaint to the French Council of Journalistic Ethics and Mediation (CDJM) regarding publications appearing in Charlie Hebdo and Libération publications. 

The CNP denounced "violations" taking place "in a context of attacks by several French media against Morocco and its institutions after Rabat did not accept Paris' aid after the earthquake".

However, CDJM considered the Moroccan Council's complaints inadmissible. "They did not cite any breach of the ethical rules set out in the ethical charters to which the CDJM refers," argued the French council in a press release sent to TNA.

"These choices fall within the editorial freedom of the newsrooms and must remain their sole responsibility, to the exclusion of any outside interference," added CDJM.