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I’d like to add to this with anecdotes of what it was like reporting for international news agencies in Morocco as a Moroccan-American citizen. https://twitter.com/aidaalami/status/1288947324585152512
Security officials frequently questioned my apartment’s concierge about my movement and who was coming/leaving from my apartment. Details about my private life and past work made it to social media and media outlets with close ties to the state.
After over 10 months of waiting, when I received my press card, the official who handed it to me lectured me about my past work and told me: “Remember, you’re a Moroccan before you’re a journalist.”
It was the norm to get held up at police checkpoints while on assignment. In addition to questioning, officers would leave with ID and come back later having clearly reported our movement to a superior who had to grant the green light. Then we’d be followed the entire time.
My privileges as an international reporter and American citizen helped shield me from graver circumstances. The same cannot be said for the countless of journalists and activists who currently sit behind bars for doing exactly what I was doing.
