His Majesty King Mohammed VI
The Royal Palace
Rabat
The Kingdom of Morocco

Fax: +212 37 76 85 15

Vienna, 28 June 2004

Your Majesty,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, strongly condemns the recent decision to expel Tor Dagfinn Dommersnes and Fredrik Refvem, a reporter and photographer, respectively, for the Norwegian daily newspaper, Stavanger Aftenbladet, and to have them declared personae non gratae in Morocco.

According to IPI’s information, Moroccan security police came to the Rabat hotel of the two Norwegian journalists at 6 a.m. on 16 June and ordered them to leave the country immediately. Security personnel then accompanied the journalists to Casablanca, from where they left the country on the same day. An attempt by the Norwegian Ambassador in Morocco to intervene on the journalists’ behalf was unsuccessful.

The reporters were in Morocco to prepare articles on a variety of topics, including the human rights situation in the country. These intentions were all communicated to the Moroccan Embassy in Norway prior to their departure for Morocco. The journalists then received the necessary accreditation from the Moroccan Ministry of Communication. However, the authorities later claimed that the reporters had entered the country on false pretences. The reason for the expulsion was that Dommersnes had set up an interview appointment with an opposition politician on the topic of the Western Sahara conflict.

IPI strongly urges Your Majesty to do everything in your power to ensure that the decision to expel Dommersnes and Refvem is reversed. We would like to remind Your Excellency that, according to Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers” and that this fundamental human right must be extended to all journalists reporting on events in Morocco, whether foreign or domestic. IPI also urges Your Excellency to ensure that journalists in Morocco are in the future able to carry out their profession without fear of harassment or intimidation.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director