Rabat, Morocco (TMT)-The editor-in-chief of Akhbar Al Yaoum, Morocco’s most-read newspaper, Taoufik Bouachrine, who is also Morocco’s most-read columnist, wrote recently an open letter to the Egyptian ambassador to Morocco, Ahmed Ehab Gamal El Din, following a little bird informing him that “the ambassador is afoot contacting various Moroccan officials and Ministers asking them to intervene to cripple Mr. Bouachrine’s from criticizing, including other Moroccan journalists, the Egyptian leadership and its president, General Abdelfattah Sisi, who came to power after toppling the democratically elected president through a military coup,” the open letter read.
Among others, Taoufik Bouachrine criticized the Egyptian ambassador’s endeavor stressing that “he is trying to export Egypt’s repression” to Morocco.
“We are not concocting anything about Egypt. The humanitarian situation, the killings, and aleatory death sentencing is a mundane thing in Egypt. Leading news outlets and organizations like Human Rights, Freedom House, and Amnesty hashed it out to details about the situation in Egypt. We are not concocting anything,” Bouachrine’s open letter added.
“Mr. the Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Rabat, this writer [Taoufiq Boauchrine] does not receive instructions from anyone, and the editorial line of this newspaper [Akhbar Al Yaoum] follows to the letter professional journalism’s codes of ethics. We write freely what we believe is right, in line with any journalist’s duties, with a journalist’s first and foremost duty is the pushing for the triumph of democracy, human rights, freedom of expression and human dignity,” the open letter read.
Bouachrine further noted that “when we make mistakes, we apologize. When we cross red lines, we pay the price and we are fully aware that journalism is the profession of troubles, and that saying the truth has a price.”
The Moroccan Times.
