Moroccan journalist Amine Ayoub could not meet his brother who lives in Houston, as he wanted. His trip turned into a ordeal. Starting from Morocco via France for Havana, he was arrested in Cuba. Upon arrival, the Cuban authorities arrested him at the airport and held for hours. They then questioned him on the many Israeli stamps affixed to his passport. “I thought that with all their peace speeches and all the good things they say about themselves, it would go. I did not know that Cuba was going to hate me and treat me like that, “said Ayoub in a video interview with Ynet News in Israel. He wanted to specify that his phone was confiscated without explanation for several hours.
To read: Moroccan journalists prohibited from entry to the United States
The Moroccan journalist will add: “They treated me like a terrorist … They retained me as a criminal”. After these hours of detention, he was allowed to enter Cuba for three days. But he was again arrested at the airport as he was trying to board the Bahamas. A civilian removed his passport to him and he was informed that he could not go out. “The Bahameans do not want you […] No, you cannot go to the Bahamas, “said Ayoub, adding that he has received a document or an official explanation. He was taken to a cell with metal chairs, “without food or water”, where he spent 32 hours under constant surveillance. “If I had to go to the bathroom, a police officer – I don’t even know if they were police officers – followed me. These 32 hours was an incredible experience, “he continued.
To read: Moroccan journalist Hamid Mahdaoui returns to prison
His ordeal ended when he was led on board an airplane by the police chief at Havana airport, surrounded by several agents who remained on board. “I still have physical pain by dint of sleeping there. […] There are also psychological consequences, complained about the journalist. I am still disturbed because I don’t know what these types wanted. Ayoub believes that it has undergone this degrading treatment due to its pro-Israeli activism. “This is what explains everything, with all these questions they asked me and the way they dealt with me,” he added. As a reminder, Cuba broke his diplomatic relations with Israel in 1973 and supports the creation of a sovereign Palestinian state.
