The Moroccan electronic newspaper “barlamane.com” denounced, with evidence, the double standards adopted by the newspaper “le Monde” while dealing with issues related to freedom of expression in Morocco.
“Le Monde” takes up the cause of Omar Radi and Souleymane Raissouni, two journalists prosecuted in sexual cases, without bothering to contact the alleged victims to listen to their versions, writes “barlamane.com” in an article under the title “why should we boycott the French daily Le Monde?”
However, the French paper instinctively sided with the alleged victims in the case of journalist Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, the same source notes.
To illustrate this policy of “double standards” of the daily “Le Monde”, the Moroccan newspaper mentions several other cases in France, such as those of the journalist of “Canal +”, Pierre Ménès, the political scientist Olivier Duhamel or Tarek Ramadan, all of them castigated by the French press, led by “Le Monde”, which took the side of the victims.
“Are French victims better than Moroccan ones?”, wonders “barlamane.com”, for whom “the Moroccan woman is worth as much as the French, the Malian, the Guatemalan, etc. At least that’s what the state and French defenders of human rights and women’s causes claim.
The electronic newspaper wonders, in this context, if “it is simply a political settlement of accounts dictated from above”, specifying that “Le Monde”, which has recently written two articles on the “regression” of freedom of expression in Morocco, without the author setting foot there, is decried by its readership even in France.
“barlamane.com” quotes, in this regard, a Parisian reader who was indignant about the way the French newspaper treated the case of Patrick Poivre d’Arvor, as well as the heart’s cry of Hafsa Boutahar, alleged victim of Omar Radi.
By neglecting the alleged victims of Raissouni and Radi as well as the many victims of Taoufik Bouachrine, “Le Monde” thus acknowledges its bias and its different treatment of this type of case when it comes to Morocco.
This bias is also evident in the treatment of the interview the author of the articles had with Maati Monjib, an opponent indeed, but nevertheless prosecuted for tax evasion, embezzlement and money laundering coming from abroad in favor of a research center he directs.
The author did not see fit to question the other party, in this case the Moroccan authorities, to show neutrality, as required by the ethics of the profession. He did not even ask Monjib a question about the causes of the legal proceedings, explains “barlamane.com”.
Hiding behind freedom of expression and opinion to denigrate Morocco is no longer an argument that stands up to reality, writes the Moroccan electronic newspaper, pointing out that “Le Monde”, which is peddling these accusations and more, is on free sale in Morocco. The AFP and the France 24 channel, which do not miss any opportunity to give a black look on the Kingdom and its institutions, operate freely on the entire Moroccan territory.
“So where is the hindrance to press freedom? Where is the hardening?” it wonders, noting that in Morocco, sales of the daily Le Monde are shrinking every year. Moreover, the French daily no longer has a correspondent in Morocco.
“To the French media, which hunt like a pack as soon as it comes to the Kingdom of Morocco and to those who trigger them and do not hesitate to manipulate Moroccans living abroad against their country, Rabat had already shown that blackmail no longer passes and the negotiation must obey the strict and clear rules of diplomacy,” the paper concludes.
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