An Amnesty International’s note on Morocco and Algeria results in a war between their news agencies

On Tuesday, London-based NGO Amnesty International urged several countries, including Morocco and Algeria, to release prisoners during the coronavirus crisis. The NGO’s calls were featured by both the Algerian and Moroccan official news agencies, respectively, APS and MAP.  

However, without paying attention to the note addressed to Morocco, the official agency of the Kingdom relayed, Tuesday, Amnesty’s call concerning Algerian prisoners. Entitled «Amnesty International calls on Algeria to immediately release prisoners of conscience», the MAP story focused on the state of health of Karim Tabou, a politician and figurehead of the Algerian Hirak.

The Moroccan agency recalls that Amnesty «denounced the fact of not authorizing the leader of the Party of Democratic and Social Union, isolated for six months inside the prison, that is to say since the September 12, 2019, to leave his cell for an hour a day, and to talk to other detainees».

«It stressed that this situation persists despite his worrying health condition, which prompted a group of Algerian doctors to publish a public statement warning of the dangers of keeping him in prison», MAP wrote.

APS responds to MAP

APS’ response to the MAP was quick. On Wednesday, the Algerian news agency published a report about Amnesty International’s note. Entitled «Amnesty International calls on Morocco to urgently and unconditionally release prisoners of conscience», the story included also the call of Human Rights Watch and the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) on this issues.

Media hostilities between Morocco and Algeria, on subjects such as Western Sahara or human rights are common. Last year, and after several uneventful months, the two press agencies had drawn their feathers to fuel the controversy over the Morocco-European Union fisheries agreement.

An analysis, made by the APS, of a press release from the Council of Ministers chaired by King Mohammed VI, angered MAP which published an article criticizing the Algerian press agency and its «subjective» report on Morocco.