New York, May 2, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Moroccan authorities to stop suppressing independent reporting from the occupied Western Sahara, after two Italian freelance journalists became the latest to be deported from the disputed territory.
“The deportation of Italian journalist Matteo Garavoglia and photographer Giovanni Colmoni is yet another sign of Morocco’s repressive media blockade on the occupied Western Sahara,” said CPJ Regional Director Sara Qudah. “Authorities must allow independent reporting from a region where transparency is already severely limited.”
On April 27, the journalists tried to enter the occupied territory’s capital Laayoune by car from the north but were arrested by security forces and taken to the southwestern city of Agadir, where they were expelled from Morocco.
Moroccan officials said the journalists had committed a “provocative act” as they did not have official authorization and had previously attempted to enter Western Sahara via air, the local outlet Hespress said.
Hespress quoted unnamed sources as saying that the journalists were trying to promote separatist agendas. The Western Sahara press freedom group Equipe Media said no evidence was provided to support this claim.
Morocco and the separatist Polisario Front, which represents the indigenous Sahrawi people, have been in dispute over the former Spanish colony since Morocco annexed it in 1975.
The Italian journalists planned to document the human rights situation, Sahara Press Service reported.
Morocco considers Western Sahara part of its territory and requires journalists to obtain authorization to report from the region. Numerous international journalists have been expelled from the territory, as well as human rights observers and politicians.
Morocco has very few independent outlets, with most owned by the political and business elite and criticism of the government’s policies in Western Sahara and of the monarchy is not permitted.
CPJ emailed Morocco’s Ministry of Interior requesting comment but did not receive a response.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.