French criminal defense firm “Binsard Martine Associés” issued a press release on Wednesday demanding that French newspaper Libération remove the picture of Moroccan citizen Touria Sarka from its website and issue an official apology to her for twisting her words. The firm warned that if Liberation fails to provide a satisfactory response, it will file a complaint with the Prosecutor of the Republic in Paris.
On September 11, 2023, Libération published a picture of Sarka in distress after her house in Marrakech had collapsed due to the earthquake. The accompanying headline read, “Help us, we are dying in silence.” However, it has been revealed through a video widely shared on social media that Sarka was actually shouting “Long live the king” at the time the photograph was taken.
By attributing statements to Sarka that she never made, Libération has violated Article 226-8 of France’s Penal Code which prohibits “unlawful manipulation,” her lawyers stated in the press release. Disseminating the photograph of Sarka without her consent also violates her privacy, they asserted.
The manipulated image is particularly insidious, the lawyers went on, as it implies that Sarka disagreed with the authorities of her country on Morocco’s response to France’s relief offer.
Sarka’s lawyers said that she feels dishonored and unjustly “exploited” by Libération.
Social media users shared a video revealing the newspaper’s distortion of the woman’s statement, accusing it of spreading fake news. Numerous Moroccan citizens criticized Liberation, condemning the publication for “new colonial insinuations” and attempting to portray Morocco falsely as “helpless in assisting its citizens and forced to plead for salvation.”
In response to the firestorm of controversy over its cover image and text, Libération suggested that the September 11 edition was dedicated to covering the earthquake sympathetically by featuring a sad woman wearing a blue outfit with a crumbling wall in Marrakech in the background, using an “impactful” image and headline to effectively convey the tragedy. It stated that the controversial quote (“Help us, we are dying in silence”) did not come from the woman herself, but was quoted generally from pleas for help made by the residents of Taroudant after the disaster.
According to Alexandra Schwartzbrod, Deputy Director of Libération, the image and headline were chosen in an editorial meeting to convey the reality of the tragedy. While the woman herself did not say the quoted words, the image depicted her as completely devastated.
The spokesperson for the newspaper defended the publication, stating that it is rare for them to attribute quotes to someone not speaking in the image, but in this case, they considered the woman to be representative of all the Moroccans who took to the streets asking for help after the earthquake.
The deputy director of Liberation expressed regret, acknowledging that they were unaware the woman was shouting “Long live the king,” and that it was the responsibility of the French Press Agency to clarify that.