The Diplomat
The Madrid Press Association (APM) yesterday reiterated its support for El Confidencial journalist Ignacio Cembrero, in the face of the harassment that it believes has been exerted on him for a long time by the Kingdom of Morocco, especially after denouncing that the Moroccan secret services spied, through the Pegasus program, to holders of Spanish mobile phones, including the informant himself.
In its statement, the APM emphasizes that the latest episode of this harassment has occurred after the expansion of a lawsuit against the journalist, which the lawyers of the Maghreb country have presented based on a report from the Department of National Security of the Spanish Government, in which points out Russia and China as countries that spied on Spain, but no mention is made of Morocco.
The APM considers that the Moroccan authorities intend, with his judicial actions, “to intimidate the journalist to prevent him, in the free exercise of his profession, from continuing to report the irregularities that he observes in the Maghreb country.
Likewise, the APM calls on the Spanish authorities to act through the appropriate channels to defend the right to freedom of expression of journalists in our country when it is attacked by leaders of other States.
Likewise, the APM highlights that on February 27, the European Parliament approved the so-called anti-SLAPP law (Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation) to protect journalists subject to manifestly unfounded or abusive judicial procedures brought by individuals, pressure groups, corporations or state agencies that seek to intimidate, silence and censor them through long and expensive judicial processes.
