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Two French journalists charged with bid to blackmail Morocco king

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A newspaper, in Arabic, shows portraits of Graciet and Laurent.

Two French investigative journalists were charged with blackmail for demanding €2 million (HK$17.3 million) from the king of Morocco not to bring out a book purportedly containing damaging revelations about the monarch, legal sources said.

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Eric Laurent and Catherine Graciet were working on a book about King Mohammed VI, which is due for release early next year.

They were arrested in Paris on Thursday after a meeting with a Moroccan official at which they allegedly accepted payments of €40,000 each, a source close to the French investigation said.

The Moroccan government claims the payment was the first instalment of a total of €2 million demanded by the authors in exchange for not bringing out their book.

The French judicial source said the journalists had been charged with blackmail and extortion. They were released on bail, but are restricted from talking to each other or parties involved in the case.

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Eric Dupond-Moretti, a lawyer for the Moroccan government, told France's RTL radio that 68-year-old Laurent contacted the royal palace in July, saying he was writing a book about Mohammed VI.

The journalist allegedly demanded €3 million initially, but reduced the figure after further negotiations.

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