Relatives of the King of Morocco are at the heart of a journalistic investigation published Monday by Forbidden Stories. They are suspected of having taken the lands of a tribe, near Rabat, to transform them into a luxury hotel.
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The entourage of the King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, pinned in the latest investigation by the association of journalists Forbidden Stories – the Forbidden Stories. The concept is simple: journalists take over the work of their colleagues imprisoned in countries where freedom of expression is not possible. Thus in its latest edition, Monday, September 19, Forbidden Stories resumed the investigation of Omar Radi, a Moroccan journalist sentenced to 6 years in prison for charges of rape and espionage. Condemnation which questions because Omar Radi worked on the entourage of the king of Morocco and his practices. In particular, he had discovered that certain senior leaders had seized tribal lands to build luxury, very lucrative infrastructures.
The investigation begins with the expulsion of the Ouled Sbita tribe, not far from Rabat, the capital of Morocco. In place of its protected forest, a golf course, luxury villas with swimming pools and a private beach have been built. A financial hold-up with suspicion of insider trading, according to Cécile Andrzejewski, one of the journalists who continued the investigation of Omar Radi. “What was also at the heart of Omar’s work was really to tell what happened to this tribe”underlines the journalist. “There is one of the sources who tells me ‘you know the cleanest way to print banknotes is to take land that has no value and give it immense value’details Cecile Andrzejewski. This is exactly what happened for the enrichment of a few.”
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And, as if by chance, the names cited in the investigation go back high in the king’s entourage. So few people believe in the charges that took journalist Omar Radi to prison. In any case, this is what Hicham Mansouri, the other journalist who investigated the subject, pleads: “It is unimaginable that Omar Radi is involved in what he is accused of because it is a long series of accusations: espionage, rape, drunkenness, etc.”
“Our conclusion and that of many NGOs that support him is that Omar Radi is targeted and that this file is the consequence of his work.”
Hicham Mansouri, Moroccan journalistat franceinfo
The investigation of Omar Radi, Cécile Andrzejewski and Hicham Mansouri, on the troubled practices of the entourage of the King of Morocco can be found on the Forbidden Stories website, but also in the newspaper The world.