Morocco Expels 2 Italian Journalists Over Western Sahara Reporting Attempt

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned Moroccan authorities for deporting two Italian freelancers who attempted to report from Western Sahara, urging an end to the country’s continued suppression of independent media in the disputed region.

Freelance journalist Matteo Garavoglia and photographer Giovanni Colmoni were detained on April 27 as they tried to enter Laayoune, the capital of Western Sahara, by car from northern Morocco. Security forces intercepted them and transported them to Agadir, in the southwest, from where they were expelled from the country.

CPJ’s Middle East and North Africa Program Director, Sara Qudah, described the deportation as part of Morocco’s “repressive media blockade” on Western Sahara and called for access to independent reporting in the region, where media transparency is severely restricted.

According to Moroccan media outlet Hespress, officials claimed the pair acted provocatively by entering without official clearance. The journalists had reportedly made an earlier failed attempt to access the territory by air. Unnamed sources also accused them of promoting separatist agendas—a claim Western Sahara’s press freedom group Equipe Media said was unsubstantiated.

The journalists were reportedly planning to document human rights conditions in Western Sahara, a territory claimed by both Morocco and the Polisario Front, a Sahrawi independence movement. The region has been under Moroccan control since its 1975 annexation, sparking a long-standing and unresolved conflict.

Morocco demands special authorization for media access to Western Sahara and has repeatedly barred entry to foreign journalists, human rights observers, and even European politicians critical of its policies.

CPJ noted the lack of response from Morocco’s Ministry of Interior to a request for comment on the incident.

Media freedom remains tightly controlled in Morocco, with most outlets aligned with political or business interests and little tolerance for critical coverage of the monarchy or the Western Sahara issue.