Morocco: Stop harassment of critical journalists

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT Index: MDE 29/014/2010 Date: 29 June 2010 Morocco: Stop harassment of critical journalists Amnesty International has called on the Moroccan government to cease harassing journalists who criticize the authorities or comment on issues considered “taboo”, Including the status of Western Sahara and self-determination for its inhabitants, and the monarchy, and to [...] Taoufik Bouachrine, a journalist and publisher of the daily Akhbar al-Youm Al-Maghribya newspaper, was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and fined on 10 June after he was convicted of fraud by the Court of First Instance of Rabat. [...] He previously received a suspended four-year prison term after a court convicted him on 30 October 2009 of showing disrespect to the national flag and offending a member of the royal family. [...] A few days beforehand, on 10 June, Minister of Justice Mahamed Naciri commented publicly: “Ali Amar [trial] is far from freedom of expression and freedom of press, he is pursued for criminal offences for ‘theft’… Ali Amar is trying to give a political connotation to his trial…” Zineb El-Rhazoui, a journalist and founding member of the Alternative Movement for Individual Freedom (Movement Alternati [...] The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (Association Marocaine pour les Droits Humains, AMDH), which has been in the forefront of providing support to Taoufik Bouachrine and the other journalists named above, has recently come under pressure from the government and some media as a result.