Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms condemns the arrest of journalist and editor-in-chief of Al Qatiba Mohamed Yousfi on the evening of Friday, 4 September 2026, while he was on his way to a private radio station to give a media interview. According to the information available, he was taken to the Third Central Unit for Investigations into Complex Financial Crimes of the National Guard in El Aouina, where he was placed in custody on the morning of Saturday, 5 September 2026.
The arrest comes in a context in which journalist Mohamed Yousfi has, for some time, been subjected to an ongoing campaign on social media, involving attacks, smear campaigns, and targeting in connection with his journalistic work and positions.
Available information indicates that an investigative inquiry was opened against Mohamed Youssefi on the basis of Facebook posts, before the scope of the investigation was expanded to include his professional activities with Al Qatiba in his capacity as editor-in-chief, as well as the platform’s editorial line. The proceedings therefore appear to extend beyond the content of the posts under investigation to encompass his journalistic work and the editorial choices of the media organization he heads, raising serious questions about the scope of these proceedings and their relationship to his professional practice and journalistic positions.
Intersection Association for Rights and Freedoms considers that including the editorial line of a media organization among the subjects of an investigation involving a journalist undermines the independence of journalistic work and the freedom of media organizations to determine their editorial direction. It also creates a risk that security and judicial proceedings may be used as a means of exerting pressure on journalists and holding them accountable for their professional choices.
The Association considers that the arrest of journalists in circumstances related to the exercise of their media work raises growing concerns about respect for freedom of the press and journalists’ right to write, express themselves, and publish. It also underscores the need to ensure that measures restricting liberty are not used in ways that undermine these rights.
The arrest of Mohamed Yousfi takes place within a broader context that, in recent years, has been marked by increased prosecutions and arrests of journalists, including their imprisonment, alongside attempts to constrain journalistic work and silence independent voices. Intersection Association considers that such practices restrict freedom of the press and contribute to an atmosphere of fear and self-censorship, undermining journalists’ ability to practice their profession freely and independently.
