18 June 2003
IFEX MEMBERS LOBBY FOR JOURNALISTS' RELEASE
IFEX members are keeping Morocco's press-freedom record in the news by calling attention to the plight of imprisoned journalists, including an editor sentenced today to three years in prison for "insulting" the country's king.
On 17 June, Ali Lmrabet, owner and editor of the weekly magazines "Demain" and "Douman," was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 20,000 dirhams (approximately US$2,170), says Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF). The court also ordered his two publications closed. Lmrabet has been on hunger strike since 6 May and is in weak condition.
The charges against him stem from articles and cartoons published in "Demain" and "Douman," including a story about the royal court's finances and a cartoon on the "history of slavery" that lampooned the servility of local officials toward the monarchy, note the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Human Rights Watch. Last week, CPJ met with Morocco's ambassador to the United States to express its concern over Lmrabet.
It also raised concerns about Mustafa Alaoui, an editor of the weekly "Al-Ousboua" who was arrested on 5 June for publishing a statement by an Islamist group claiming responsibility for some of the 16 May suicide bombings in Casablanca. Alaoui was detained under the country's recently enacted anti-terrorism law. [Updates:
IFEX Communiqué #12-19]
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
- Sign a petition (in French) urging Lmrabet's release: http://www.naros.info/article.php3?id_article=69
- Read RSF's recent report on Morocco "Warnings for the Independent Press":
http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=6801
Read statements and actions taken by other IFEX members:
- Canadian Journalists for Free Expression: http://www.cjfe.org/protestlets/2003/maroc-jun13.html
- Committee to Protect Journalists: http://www.cpj.org/protests/03ltrs/USA13june03pl.html
- Human Rights Watch: http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/06/morocco061803.htm
- International Federation of Journalists: http://www.ifj.org/default.asp?index=1352&Language=EN
- Reporters sans frontières: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=7117
- World Association of Newspapers: http://www.wan-press.info/pages/article.php3?id_article=1247
- World Press Freedom Committee: http://www.wpfc.org/index.jsp?page=PR%20Morocco
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