(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Interior Minister Driss Jettou, RSF protested the travel ban imposed on British journalist Nicolas Pelham, a former BBC correspondent in Morocco. “This step is completely unjustified, particularly since Minister of Communications Mohammed Achaari previously told the journalist that he could visit Morocco whenever he wanted,” stated RSF Secretary-General Robert […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Interior Minister Driss Jettou, RSF protested the travel ban imposed on British journalist Nicolas Pelham, a former BBC correspondent in Morocco. “This step is completely unjustified, particularly since Minister of Communications Mohammed Achaari previously told the journalist that he could visit Morocco whenever he wanted,” stated RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard. “We request an explanation for this change in attitude,” he added.
According to information collected by RSF, Pelham, a freelance British journalist who travelled to Morocco to produce a report on emigration for the BBC, was expelled from the kingdom on 23 January 2002. When he arrived at the Tangiers airport late on 22 January, the journalist was told that he was “prohibited from entering the country,” without further explanation. Pelham was taken to offices at the airport, where he spent the night. He was put on a plane to Casablanca in the morning, after which he was put on a flight to London via Madrid. In June 1999, the journalist, who was then the BBC correspondent in Rabat, was stopped at the border post of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, just north of Morocco. The authorities allowed him to enter the country the following day.
