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Imprisoned editor Ali Lmrabet threatened in his cell

(RSF/IFEX) - During a court appearance in Rabat on 22 October 2003, jailed newspaper editor Ali Lmrabet said two men visited him in his cell the previous day and threatened to accuse him of trafficking hashish inside the prison. Lmrabet is serving a three-year sentence for "insulting the person of the king".

Addressing the journalists in the courtroom, including many correspondents from the Spanish press, Lmrabet said his two visitors warned him that if he continued writing articles for the foreign media, they would hide large amounts of hashish among his belongings while he was outside his cell. Since being imprisoned on 13 May, Lmrabet has had several articles published in foreign publications, including the French daily "Le Monde" and "Courrier International" magazine.

His 22 October court appearance was unrelated to the case for which he is in jail. It stems from a charge in 2001 that he published "false information disturbing or likely to disturb the peace" in his now banned weekly "Demain Magazine". He was convicted and sentenced on 21 November 2001 to four months in prison and a fine of 30,000 dirhams (approx US$3,260; 2,760 euros), but the Rabat prosecutor's office immediately appealed.

The appeal was to have been heard on 22 October, but was postponed at the request of Lmrabet's lawyers because they had not received copies of all the documents related to the case.

The official reason for the 2001 charge was an article entitled "The Skhirat Palace is reportedly for sale". In Lmrabet's view, the real reason was the publication in "Demain Magazine" on 27 October 2001 of excerpts from "The Last King", a book about Morocco by "Le Monde" reporter Jean-Pierre Tuquoi. As a result of the 2001 conviction, "Demain Magazine" was banned for a month.