Denial of Access to National Territory for Belgian National Christophe Marchand is Sovereign Decision – Public Authorities –

The denial of access to national territory for Belgian national Christophe Marchand is a sovereign decision, taken in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 02-03 relating to entry and stay of foreigners in the Kingdom of Morocco, emigration and irregular immigration, said the public authorities. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Inter-ministerial Delegation for Human Rights underlines that authorizations granted by the public authorities to foreign observers of different nationalities to access national territory in order to follow the progress of an ongoing trial, alongside representatives of diplomatic bodies and the national human rights institution, is part of their concern to ensure impartial and independent observation of the conduct of this trial. The arrival of the Belgian citizen concerned by the abovementioned measure and known for his hostile positions towards Morocco, in particular those detrimental to the Kingdom’s territorial integrity, “is only a simple attempt on his part to exploit the presence in the Kingdom to disrupt the conduct of a trial “, the Delegation points out. Even if he is aware that access to the national territory has been prohibited to him since February 24, 2021, the person concerned persisted in going to Morocco in an attempt to impose the fait accompli, to exploit the ban decision in order to tarnish the image of the country, by playing the role of the victim and instrumentalizing his presence at the trial for the achievement of partial and non-objective reports, the source stresses. “The sovereign decision to deny access to the national territory to the person concerned was taken in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 02-03 relating to the entry and stay of foreigners in the Kingdom of Morocco, emigration and irregular immigration, in particular article 4 which underlines that access to Moroccan territory can be refused to any foreigner subject to a ban from the territory, which applies to this specific case”, the Delegation concludes.