Rabat pulls Aljazeera reporter’s permit

The Moroccan Ministry of Communications in a statement to the official news agency, MAP, said Razaq had violated the code of professional ethics by airing false news.

The decision to cancel Razaq’s permit was made after Aljazeera aired an interview in Paris with a Polisario activist who accused the Moroccan authorities of abducting pro-independence activist Ali Salem Tamek.
 
The Moroccan authorities have denied abducting Tamek, saying he was summoned by the judicial authorities for interrogation on charges of involvement last month in riots in Laayoun, the largest town in Western Sahara.

Accusation
 
The director of the Communications Ministry, Fatiha al-Ayadi, told Aljazeera that it was not the first time Razaq had violated the code of ethics and accused him of  sympathising with the separatists.

The Moroccan official also said Razaq had exploited his position in Aljazeera to promote a “separatist message”.

“In his report about the Western Sahara, Razaq had stated the separatists’ point of view and neglected the Moroccan version though the channel’s motto is ‘Opinion and counter opinion’,” Ayadi said.
 
Asked about the news branded by the Moroccan ministry as false or in breach of the ethics code, the official repeated her charge of what she said was “promoting a separatist message”, without giving examples of violating the code of professional ethics or what the Moroccan authorities described as false news stories.

The Moroccan authorities in June also cancelled the reporting permit of Aljazeera reporter Iqbal Ilhami.