DAKHLA (Occupied Sahrawi Territories), February 19, 2025 – Moroccan authorities have expelled Spanish journalist Asier Aldea Esnaola and Swiss-Spanish influencer Ramila de Aventura from the occupied Sahrawi territories. This action appears to be aimed at preventing foreign media and international observers from documenting human rights violations against the Sahrawi people.
According to reports from Spanish and Sahrawi media sources, the Moroccan police intercepted the two individuals on Tuesday evening at Mohammed V Airport in Casablanca while they were en route to Dakhla. Their travel documents were confiscated without any explanation.
In a video shared on social media, they disclosed that they had previously attempted to access the occupied city of Laâyoune the prior Sunday but were denied entry without valid justification.
The journalist and his companion also revealed that Moroccan authorities compelled them to purchase a return ticket to Madrid as the sole condition for the return of their passports.
In a statement to APS, Hassan Zerouali, a human rights activist and member of the Collective of Sahrawi Human Rights Defenders in Western Sahara (CODESA), condemned this latest instance of repression against freedom of information. He emphasized that Morocco has enforced a stringent media blockade in the occupied Sahrawi territories since its invasion in 1975, effectively barring foreign media from conducting independent investigations on-site.
He further noted that international journalists are systematically denied access to prevent the documentation of human rights violations, arrests, and the torture of Sahrawi journalists, in addition to the plundering of the natural resources belonging to the Sahrawi people.
Zerouali recalled that since 2014, no fewer than 311 observers, activists, and foreign journalists from 28 countries have been expelled from the occupied Western Sahara. He criticized these repressive measures aimed at enforcing silence regarding the situation in the region.
He urged the international community to take immediate action to demand an end to the media blockade imposed by Morocco, allowing foreign and Sahrawi journalists to freely conduct their work, and to establish a UN mechanism for monitoring and protecting human rights in the occupied Sahrawi territories.
In a statement, the Sahrawi organization CODESA condemned these expulsions and reiterated that Morocco is intensifying its military and media lockdown on the occupied Western Sahara.
Meanwhile, the Sahrawi Institution Against Moroccan Occupation (ISACOM) expressed deep concern over these restrictions, denouncing Morocco’s blatant disregard for international law and United Nations mechanisms. It asserted that these repressive practices once again demonstrate the Moroccan regime’s intent to evade its legal obligations concerning human rights and international humanitarian law.
