BFMTV journalist Neila Latrous has been lynched on social networks for 24 hours. He is accused of having mentioned on the air the state of health of the king of MoroccoMohammed VI. This is the new taboo that we cannot touch without triggering the ire of the relays at the royal palace in Rabat.
Mohamed VI is in very bad shape as we saw when French President Emmanuel Macron arrived at Rabat airport on Monday October 28 for a three-day working visit. The king walked with difficulty, leaning on a cane.
The 61-year-old king’s illness has been no secret for several years but this is the first time he has been shown in this state. The images shocked Moroccans and reignited speculation about the seriousness of his illness and his ability to continue to reign.
BFMTV: the question that bothers Moroccans
In France, apart from Libération and BFMTV, the other media ignored the state of health of the King of Morocco.
After the presidential visit, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, was invited on Thursday October 31 to dissect it on the BFMTV set. To the journalist Neila Latrous who asked him how he found the king since he approached him closely, he replied that it was not up to him “to comment on the health of the king of Morocco”.
The head of French diplomacy prefers to remember other “images” of this visit, “the popular fervor with which the President of the Republic was welcomed”, “the ovation reserved by the Moroccan parliament for the speech” of Emmanuel Macron and “the joy of the French people of Morocco to see this relationship between our two countries rebuilt and planned”.
Journalist of Algerian origin Neila Latrous attacked for discussing the health of the King of Morocco
Neila Latrous insists, without further success, the minister reiterating that it was not up to him to comment on the health of the King of Morocco.
Since the interview was broadcast, the journalist has been targeted by Moroccan Internet users. With ad hominem attacks not even sparing the meaning of his last name in Arabic.
Those who attack the journalist do not fail to systematically recall her Algerian origins. Some even accompanied their comments with images of former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, confined to a wheelchair after a stroke.
Reading the Moroccan reactions to the interview, it seems that it is the Algerian origins of the journalist that pose a problem more than her insistence on the state of health of the king.
Which recalls the lynching reserved for the Algerian entrepreneur and columnist Mehdi Ghezar at the end of last August after statements made on the Algerian channel Al24 News on the scale of drug trafficking in Morocco. Even the French channel RMC announced the suspension of the Algerian columnist’s participation in the program “Les grandes mouthes”.
Last mid-October, the philosopher Michel Onfray described Morocco on Europe 1 as a “rogue state” and its king as a “boss” of drug trafficking, without provoking the slightest reaction, either in Morocco or in France.
