In a statement, the SNPM explained that Al Jazeera’s unilateral decision to terminate the contract of colleague Abdessamad Nasser, meaning his unfair dismissal, after he published a tweet in a space that has nothing to do with the media he works for, “damages the channel’s credibility and empties its slogans on freedom of expression, publication, independence of journalists and defense of their dignity of all meaning, turning them, in the process, into hollow currency”.
The Union said it “hastened to carry out the necessary investigations into this surprising decision taken hastily by the management of the Al Jazeera channel”, noting that it turned out that after Abdessamad Nasser had broadcast a tweet in which he defended the honor of Moroccan women, following the insults they were subjected to by the official Algerian media, which accused the Moroccan state of exploiting the honor and dignity of Moroccan women, Al Jazeera’s news director ordered him to delete the tweet.
Nasser rejected the injunction, arguing that this was a matter of freedom of expression outside the framework of the channel, according to the same source.
Subsequently, added the SNPM, the channel’s managing director summoned Nasser to his office to ask him to withdraw the tweet, or at least to modify it so that it would not be interpreted as an attack on the Algerian state. Al Jazeera’s managing director made it clear to Nasser that, should he refuse, he would be obliged to take dissuasive administrative measures, the same source added, noting that Nasser refused to comply and continued to argue that the tweet in question fell within the practice of freedom of expression in a space that had nothing to do with Al Jazeera.
Shortly after this meeting, the channel’s management announced that it had unilaterally terminated Abdessamad Nasser’s contract, according to the SNPM, which means that this was an unfair dismissal of a colleague who had exercised his natural right to express his opinion outside the media for which he works.
The Union recalled that certain journalists working for the same channel and in sports channels that report to it have repeatedly spared no effort to cast aspersions on Morocco and its institutions, noting that the channel’s management has not lifted a finger despite the major controversies that have ensued.
This means, said the SNPM, and in light of the abusive decision against colleague Abdessamad Nasser, that these irresponsible actions had the blessing of management.
The Union explained that it has concluded that there is “an Algerian lobby inside and outside the channel, guiding these sordid games”, adding that it has confirmed the existence of interventions and pressure from the Algerian embassy in Doha to impose a line hostile to Moroccan interests inside the channel and in its media content.
Following this abusive decision, the Union announced that it intended to lodge a protest note with the management of Al Jazeera, and with the relevant Center for Press Freedom, in addition to sending letters to the International Federation of Journalists and the General Union of Arab Journalists. The SNPM also intends to organize a sit-in protest in front of the Al Jazeera office in Rabat in the near future.
