Lahcen Tigbadar and Mohamed Slimani, journalists with the Moroccan weekly Assahra Ousbouiya, had been prevented by "Algerian police" from "leaving a hotel in Tindouf," the CPJ underlined.

"Assahra Ousbouiya said Tigbadar and Slimani had been obstructed despite having obtained press accreditation from Algerian authorities," the NGO deplored.

"We condemn the restrictions that our colleagues were subjected to as they tried to do their job," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator. "Algeria cannot use such detentions as a means of obstructing news on the plight of refugees."