- Title: MOROCCO: Moroccan journalist in court for disparaging king
- Date: 26th August 2007
- Summary: (MER1) RABAT, MOROCCO (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF NEWSPAPER PRINTING PRESS
- Embargoed: 10th September 2007 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Morocco
- Country: Morocco
- Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
- Reuters ID: LVA3XQFSA7C8G3JAWAT4B2QHMLKB
- Story Text: At this time of the year, courts in Morocco are usually very quiet and the legal staff is on holiday. But this summer, the Casablanca court has been very busy with several cases involving journalists accused by the government of violating various rules. The most recent to appear in court was Moroccan journalist Ahmed Reda Benchemsi, who could be jailed for up to five years for showing disrespect for King Mohammed the Sixth.
The trial of Benchemsi, who is a current affairs magazine editor, began on Friday (August 24), and Benchemsi, who questioned the usefulness of upcoming elections in a country where the monarchy wields ultimate power, said he had done no wrong.
Only a few days earlier, the king used his annual address to the North African nation to say he hoped parliamentary polls on Sept. 7 would reinforce democracy and that he would oppose anyone who questioned their validity.
Under the press law, insulting the king or a member of the royal family can lead to a five-year prison sentence and a 100,000 dirham ($12,000) fine.
Officials seized Benchemsi's magazines, French language Tel Quel (As It Is) and Nichane (Forthright), in Arabic, which they said also contained articles showing disrespect for the Prophet Mohammed and damaging public morals and good manners.
It was the second time in a year that the authorities had seized Nichane, a magazine written in Morocco's Derija dialect which tests the limits of free speech in articles that often upbraid powerful officials and criticise government policy.
Nichane's former editor stepped down earlier this year after it was banned for two months for publishing popular jokes about Islam, sex and politics.
The trial has drawn an angry response from human rights and press freedom groups, which pointed to a series of crackdowns on independent titles as evidence a gradual loosening of strictures on the Moroccan press has gone into reverse.
"The press should be given complete freedom to express the public's opinion on whatever is happening in Morocco. Therefore, the press law should not include any article mentioning prison sentences for journalists," Mohamed Tarik Sbai, a Lawyer and Human Rights Activist, told Reuters.
A day before Benchemsi's trial began, Morocco's Information Minister, Mohamed Nabil Ben Abdallah, denied that there was a tightening of strictures on the press.
"The Moroccan government is determined to protect freedom of speech and freedom of the press and contrary to what is said here and there, there is no going back on this. This is a policy that we defend and one that and his majesty developed and we are doing our best to democratise our country as much as possible," he told a news conference in Rabat.
Morocco's former Information Minister and former head of the country's Journalists Union, Mohamed Larbi Messari, said the nature of journalism meant that those working in the field would always be exposed to difficult situations.
"We will always be, as journalists, exposed to difficult situations. Even the Interior minister spoke about some quarters that are against changes. In fact, there are some people who do not want things to change for the better but the most important thing for us journalists is to be professionals so that we don't give any opportunity to whoever is against freedom of speech," said Messari, who now works as a newspaper columnist.
Earlier this month, a Moroccan military court sentenced eight army officers to up to five years imprisonment for leaking military intelligence information to al-Watan over an al Qaeda plot.
Government officials say Morocco is committed to further press freedom but journalists should not feel above the law.
Morocco's press is viewed abroad as being among the Arab world's freest, but criticising the king, questioning his role as leader of Morocco's Muslims and calling into doubt Morocco's claim over the disputed territory of the Western Sahara can still land a reporter in prison. But a new generation of journalists continues to challenge those taboos and push what they consider as the "old guard" to allow them to be addressed.
A committee comprising several organisations fighting for human rights in general, including the press freedom, plans to pay a visit to the Consultative Council for Human Rights to express concern about the trials to which some members of the press are being subjected. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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