"The AMPS is shocked to learn that the media delegation accompanying the Moroccan sports contingent was banned from entering Algerian soil via the airport of Oran, where it arrived Wednesday night," the sports media body wrote in a statement.

Criticizing "this position that ignores the international conventions of the media and hinders the right of journalists to exercise their professional duty," the AMPS urges "all international and continental supervisory institutions to take urgent action to protect the Moroccan media delegation, blocked at the international airport of Oran."

Despite the efforts of the representatives of the Moroccan National Olympic Committee, the Consulate General of Morocco in Oran, and the members of the International Committee of Mediterranean Games, "the Moroccan media delegation had to spend the night at the airport in extremely deplorable conditions," according to the same source.

Although the members of the delegation waited "for the procedures to be completed on Thursday morning, the authorities at Oran airport refused to grant the Moroccan media delegation entry to Algeria to carry out its duty," the AMPS deplored.