Morocco Expels Spanish Journalists and Human Rights Activist from Occupied Laâyoune

Moroccan occupation authorities expelled two Spanish journalists and a human rights activist on Tuesday while they were on a mission to investigate the situation in occupied Western Sahara.

The individuals involved were journalist Leonor Suarez, Oscar Allende—editor of the news website “El Faradio”—and Raul Conde, a member of the NGO “Cantabria for Western Sahara.” According to Sahrawi and Spanish sources, they were stopped at a police checkpoint in occupied Laâyoune and subsequently detained.

The Moroccan authorities expelled them without providing any official justification. The group was then forced to leave the area in their vehicle, escorted by four Moroccan secret police cars, and taken to the city of Agadir.

According to “El Independiente Equipe Media,” a Sahrawi journalist platform working to break the media blackout in occupied Western Sahara, the three Spaniards had coordinated their trip with journalists from the Sahrawi agency “Equipe Media.” They had traveled from Agadir to Laâyoune to assess the conditions facing the Sahrawi people.

The expelled journalists and human rights activist denounced the move as an “illegal act” that illustrates Morocco’s ongoing repression of press freedom and human rights defenders in the occupied territories.

Notably, over 330 journalists, observers, and activists have been expelled from Western Sahara by Moroccan occupation forces in recent years.

APS