"The denunciation by Morocco of the blatant biased positions and the serious professional mistakes by some Spanish papers against the Kingdom was clearly confirmed today by the dishonest attitude shown by two leading Spanish newspapers, El Pais and El Mundo," Communications Minister, Spokesperson for the government Khalid Naciri underlined in a statement to the press.
   
    After having endured with great restraint a month-long systematic campaign of slandering, manipulation and disinformation, Morocco, in a gesture of good intentions, agreed following a pressing demand by Spanish authorities to grant access to Laayoune to journalists Ana Romero from El Mundo and Tomas Barbulo Marcos from El Pais so that they can carry out their job, without restrictions, following the example of other European media outlets which reported objectively and without indulgence, explained the Moroccan official.
   
    “Morocco’s good intention was betrayed anew,” deplored Naciri, noting that the two Spanish correspondents kept reporting “a spate of untruths on Laayoune’s events and deliberately refused to recognize the errors they committed in treating the situation in Gdeim Izik camp, before and after its dismantlement by Moroccan security authorities.”
 
    “Instead of adopting an objective approach that takes into account the true facts about the dismantling operation of the camp on November 8, as proven by testimonies of competent, credible national and international NGOs, the two Spanish journalists focused on allegations of human rights breaches in relation to the acts of vandalism and the savage destruction of public and private property perpetrated by criminals in Laayoune,” the Minister went on to say.

    Naciri added that the editorials of the papers in question went too far in their impertinence when they refused to publish the denials and explanations provided in this respect by Moroccan authorities in response to the allegations they spread.
 
    After they have exceeded the agreed upon period of stay, today Ana Romero “allows herself to claim that her physical integrity is being threatened, while paradoxically refusing to leave Laayoune,” Naciri said.

    The Minister stated that the height of this “absurdity” was reached this morning when the Director General of El Mundo, who was speaking in a Spanish radio, called on Spain to protect the above-mentioned journalist who chose to take refuge in la Casa de Espana in Laayoune after leaving the hotel.

    In this respect, the Moroccan government “vigorously denounces this provocative attitude of El Mundo and its correspondent, which goes against the ethics of the profession,” Naciri made it clear.
 
    Tomas Barbulo Marcos from El Pais resorted to the same systematic disinformation and evinced an obsessive focus about the events that followed the dismantling of the Gdeim Izik camp.

    In a good-will gesture and despite his latent hostility to Morocco, he was granted an exclusive interview, on November 26, with Foreign Minister Taïb Fassi Fihri, said Naciri, adding that the result of the interview, which lasted over an hour, unfortunately confirmed the anti-Moroccan attitude of El Pais.

    Naciri affirmed that the precise arguments and the undeniable proofs presented by the Foreign Minister about self determination, referendum, the responsibility of Algeria in the conflict, the truth about the polisario, the situation in Tindouf camps and the responsibility of the Spanish colonization as well as the biased position of some Spanish media and its disinformation campaign were all ignored because they destroy the thesis of Morocco’s enemies.

     On the contrary, the only issue which obsessively interested Barbulo concerned only the allegations of torture which were refuted by Foreign Minister on several occasion, Naciri said.

     “This did not prevent the journalist from attributing to the Moroccan official statements which he never said, by insidiously claiming that he implicitly recognized the torture acts,” Naciri added.

    “We are in front of a new serious slander worsened by a deliberate intolerable professional error,” which led Foreign Minister to resort to Spanish Justice, Naciri underlined.