Former diplomat Mohamed Salah Tamek expressed his deep concern over the statement of the US State Department spokesman on justice and media freedom in Morocco, saying he was “shocked” and “deeply hurt” in his dignity as a Moroccan.
“The least I can say about the State Department spokesperson’s declaration about Moroccan justice and freedom of speech is that I am, as a Moroccan citizen and former diplomat, shocked and deeply hurt in my dignity and that of all Moroccans,” said Tamek in a reaction published on the news website “hespress.com”.
“By what divine law you allow yourself to poke your nose in a Moroccan justice case about a Moroccan citizen whose name you barely stuttered and you rebuke the Moroccans as if speaking to classroom pupils?,” he wondered.
“Wherefrom you detain this arrogant power to dictate and judge what is in tune with the Moroccan Constitution and what is not? How do you allow yourself to stratify the Moroccan people between important citizens as the ones you named and insignificant and good-to-be-crushed ones such as their plaintiffs Adam and Hafsa?”, wondered Tamek.
“Are American sexually assaulted males or females more important and more human than their Moroccan counterparts?” he said.
“What is so much at stake with those two cases brought before justice and openly debated both inside and outside courts? How many so-called articles and investigation surveys done by these two so-called journalists have been banned or forbidden? Why does the State Department keep silent when it comes to what is happening in Algeria or, for that matter, in South Africa, recently?,” he wondered.
“Why this much focus on Morocco in the present situation? Isn’t that a blatant and unjustified side-taking with a tiny group of extreme islamists and leftists, who as all empty drums make louder noise, against the overwhelming silent majority of Moroccans?,” he stressed.
“Because of all these unanswered questions, I do express my deep concern about this attitude taken by the State Department spokesperson and I sincerely wish that it is a jarring note, because, otherwise, this does not augur well for the future of the American-Moroccan relationships?,” he concluded.
