Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad Nasser Bourita said on Thursday 2nd July, 2020 in Rabat that the non-presentation by Amnesty International (AI) of evidence concerning the allegations contained in its latest report published on June 22, 2020, makes Morocco question the context of this report.
Speaking at a press conference held by Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, government spokesperson Saaid Amzazi, after the government Council, Bourita stressed that Morocco had asked AI, five days ago, to provide this evidence but the latter did not present any response until now, noting that the Kingdom cannot accept the allegations in this report without clear evidence.
He added, during this press conference in which Minister of State in charge of Human Rights and Relations with Parliament Mustapha Ramid also took part, that this organization will have to assume its responsibility if it does not have the necessary evidence, and will have to stop adopting this approach which is based only on defamation without supporting evidence.
“If this organization does not want to provide Morocco with the evidence supporting its report, it will have to present it to the World at a press conference,” insisted Bourita, noting that it is possible to prove the claims of this organization about the infiltration of a trainee journalist’s mobile phone, scientifically by using specialized laboratories.
Bourita also stressed that the Kingdom has national establishments operating in this field, in particular the Center for monitoring, detection and response to computer attacks under the General Directorate of Information Systems Security, noting that this center has already issued five notices to all Moroccan citizens warning them against the possibility of the exploitation of their smartphones, especially through the systems to which the organization refers.
The official also said that what is happening now comes on top of the “unprofessional” approach reserved by Amnesty International for Morocco for years, through continuous and systematic targeting of the Kingdom via reports and data published by this organization, noting that during the first six months of this year, nine reports were published concerning Morocco, and that 72 documents concerning the Kingdom were published from 2016 till now, in addition to international and media campaigns targeting it.
He also affirmed Morocco’s continued openness to international organizations, whether governmental or non-governmental, stressing that the Kingdom demands that these organizations work with professionalism and credibility and that they draw up their reports within the framework of dialogue and on the basis of procedures, evidence, and clear and concrete questions.
Bourita reiterated, in this context, Morocco’s rejection of the method with which Amnesty International works with regard to cases of interest to the Kingdom, “because it never interacts with the Moroccan authorities and its sources remain anonymous, in addition to the use of media defamation before the publication of each report.”
The minister said that Morocco noticed this in 2014 during the campaign launched by this organization against torture, as it notes it today after the preparation of a report without any interaction with the Moroccan government and its publication in a set of media outlets in order to damage the reputation and the image of the country.