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Alert

Fund Against Censorship grant awarded to Moroccan publisher Ali Lmrabet

(WPFC/IFEX) - The following is a 19 July 2005 WPFC press release:

Reston, USA, July 19, 2005 - The World Press Freedom Committee (http://www.wpfc.org/) made a Fund Against Censorship grant to Spain-based Moroccan publisher Ali Lmrabet, who has been banned from the practice of journalism for ten years by a Moroccan court.

WPFC administers the Fund Against Censorship on behalf of the nine-member Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations.

The sentence stems from a criminal defamation charge brought forward by a little known pro-government group based in Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara. The Association of Relatives of Saharan Victims of Repression sued Lmrabet for disputing the official line that those living in camps in Western Sahara are not refugees but prisoners of the pro-independence Polisario Front. Lmrabet was also sentenced to pay a $5,840 fine.

Lmrabet contends the main reason behind the sentence is to keep him from publishing a new satirical magazine he was 10 days from launching.

In May of 2003 the Moroccan courts ordered the closing of Lmrabet's two publications and sentenced him to four years in prison for "insulting the king" and "damaging the monarchy." In protest, he went on a hunger strike that forced his hospitalization and attracted the support of many press freedom organizations, including the World Press Freedom Committee. Finally he received a royal pardon and was released from prison after serving six months of his sentence.

"Once again the Moroccan government chose to apply its heavy censoring hand to silence one of its critics," said WPFC's Executive Director Mark Bench. "We hope our financial and moral support will help Mr. Lmrabet fight this blatant act of censorship so that he can continue reporting on the Moroccan government's actions."

For Lmrabet, the government harassment has been relentless. In March, during his long, protracted battle to get a publishing permit from the government, Lmrabet told the Washington Post that the authorities "were going to make my life very, very hard."

Indeed, his unyielding fight for press freedom in Morocco has gained him very powerful enemies. After his sentence was announced, the country's minister of justice said Lmrabet "should wisen up and behave."

The Fund Against Censorship provides financial assistance for legal costs to journalists who are the target of judicial harassment and other forms of intimidation. The grant is made by WPFC on behalf of the Coordinating Committee of Press Freedom Organizations, which includes, in addition to WPFC: the International Press Institute (Vienna, Austria); Inter American Press Association (Miami, USA), International Association of Broadcasting (Montevideo, Uruguay); World Association of Newspapers (Paris, France); Commonwealth Press Union (London, England); North American Broadcasters Association (Toronto, Canada); International Federation of the Periodical Press (London, England); and the Committee to Protect Journalists (New York, USA).

Since 1977 the World Press Freedom Committee, an international coalition representing 45 press freedom groups from throughout the world, has made numerous grants in its cooperative program to help news media and journalists of the developing world and more recently, Asia and Central and Eastern Europe. Each request is well screened, and the success of the program depends upon generous donations from foundations, businesses and individuals