The editor of the Arabic-language weekly Nichane and its sister French-language weekly TelQuel, has been charged with “disrespect for the king” under article 41 of the Moroccan press law.
Ahmed Benchemsi received a summons from the Casablanca judicial police for the first time on August 4 after the latest issue of Nichane had been seized from news stands on the orders of Prime Minister Driss Jettou. He was questioned late into the night and summoned for further questioning the next day. Benchemsi’s trial is scheduled to open for August 24.
Under article 41 of the country's press law, anyone insulting the king or a member of the royal family can be sentenced to five years in prison and a fine of 100,000 dirhams (10,000 euros). Many journalists have been convicted under this article, which has been in effect since 2002.
“Benchemsi is a fervent defender of a bold and independent press that has been able to break many of the taboos imposed on Morocco’s journalists,” Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said. “His boldness clearly continues to upset the country’s most senior officials.”
“We condemn this act of flagrant censorship and call on Moroccan officials to release both confiscated editions at once,” said Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Executive Director Joel Simon. “The seizure of Nichane and TelQuel is further evidence that press freedom is being sharply eroded as Morocco continues to damage its reputation as a country that tolerates critical journalism.”
The police also went to the IDEALE printers in Casablanca on August 5, seizing all copies of TelQuel and destroying them, this time on the orders of interior minister Chakib Benmoussa. They also questioned one of the people in charge of the printing press. The same editorial was slated to run in French in TelQuel until authorities confiscated it. Authorities also objected to an article about sexuality in Arab culture that ran in Nichane.
Benchemsi was summoned by the police for the third day in a row August 6, when he was taken before Casablanca prosecutors and notified that he was being charged with “disrespect for the king” because of an editorial in both weeklies in which he criticised a July 30 speech by King Mohammed about the legislative elections scheduled for September 7.
As the latest issue was a special one for the month of August, a total of 50,000 copies of each of the two weeklies had been printed. Benchemsi estimates that their confiscation will cost him nearly 130,000 euros.
The government previously banned Nichane in December 2006 for allegedly denigrating Islam when the magazine ran a 10-page article analysing popular jokes about religion, sex, and politics. In January, a court handed down three-year suspended sentences and fines to the paper’s editor and a reporter. TelQuel has also been the target of a numerous politically motivated court judgments because of its political coverage.
IDEALE owner Youssef Ajana told RSF that Moroccan printers are nowadays in a “delicate situation.” He told Agence France-Presse (AFP) he sent the authorities a copy of the latest issue of another weekly, Journal Hebdomadaire, “for advice and as a precaution.” As a result, its distribution was delayed.
RSF said, “Both media owners and printers are subjected to a great deal of political and financial pressure. The repressive media law offers the courts many ways to convict journalists. It also allows the authorities to seize and destroy entire issues without any possible recourse for the victims. Virtually all of the journalists prosecuted under article 41 in recent years have been convicted. In fact, journalists never win when they are tried by the state.”
