A one-year jail sentence and a fine of 1000 dirhams (88 euros) has been imposed by a Casablanca court passed June 14 on Rachid Nini, the editor of Al-Massae, one of Morocco’s leading newspapers, at the end of a trial marked by judicial intransigence, repeated adjournments and a refusal to free him on bail.
Held since April 28, the newspaper editor was tried on charges of disinformation and attacking state institutions, public figures and the “security and integrity of the nation and citizens” under articles 263, 264 and 266 of the criminal code.
Nini’s lawyer, Khaled Sufiani, said he would appeal. “This is a very bad development for justice and civil liberties in Morocco,” he told RSF. “This is a clear warning to journalists, so that they feel threatened when they exercise their freedom of expression.” “We are alarmed to see criminal charges being brought in a press case,” RSF said. “This precedent opens the way to many abuses and to the withdrawal of the press law as effective legal tool. We urge the Moroccan courts to reverse this decision.”
It added: “Three months after King Mohammed spoke of constitutional reforms in an address, the sentence imposed on Rachid Nini is tantamount to a retraction. Imprisoning a journalist is the mark of authoritarian regimes. No progress towards democracy is possible without respect for media freedom.”
New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said, "Today's politicised verdict against Rachid Nini is yet another example of how the Moroccan judiciary is utilised to curb press freedom. Critical journalism is not a crime. King Mohammed VI must ensure that his March pledge of extensive constitutional and structural reforms extends to journalists."
RSF wrote to the justice minister on May 20 warning against trying Nini without reference to the press law. If journalists are accused of abusing freedom of expression, “any prosecution should be carried out solely under the provisions of Morocco’s press law” and any punishment should be “envisaged by the law, necessary, legitimate and proportionate,” the letter said.
Al-Massae journalists told RSF that the prosecution was prompted by articles which criticised corruption, including corruption among close associates of the king, which raised questions about Fouad Ali El-Himma, the head of the Authenticity and Modernity Party, which referred to intelligence chief Abdellatif Hammouchi, and which called for the repeal of the anti-terrorism law.
