6 April 2006

Alert

"Journal Hebdomadaire" target of steady government harassment


Incident details

magazine(s)

legal action

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(OLPEC/IFEX) - The following is an abridged version of a 5 April 2006 OLPEC press release:

Strategies aimed at destroying liberties and muzzling the free press amount to attempts to bring about the demise of "Journal Hebdo"

OLPEC is extremely concerned by the recent attacks on freedom of the press in the Maghreb, particularly the serious assaults targeting newspapers and independent journalists and the narrowing of their margin of liberty.

In Morocco, on 4 April 2006, the "Journal Hebdomadaire" appeared before the Rabat Court of Appeal, which was examining the initial judgment that sentenced the "Journal"'s executive to a heavy fine of 3 million dirhams (approx. US$330,000), surpassing any previous fine levied against a periodical. The appeal process is meant to determine whether the original trial was unfair. "The Journal" is accused of "defamation" for having criticised the seriousness of a study on the Polisario conducted by ESISC, an obscure institute based in Brussels.

The appeal process carried out on 4 April was also marked by serious human rights violations against the defence, whose lawyers were driven to walk out on the proceedings.



Source

Observatoire pour la liberté de presse, d'édition et de création
11 rue de Téhéran
2000 Le Bardo
Tunisia
Phone: +216 712 40907
Fax: +216 715 11782
 

More on this case

Managing editor resigns to spare his newspaper impossible damages payment 19 January 2007 Publisher fears for magazine's survival as deadline passes for payment of record "defamation" damages 29 December 2006 Appeal court upholds exorbitant damages award against "Journal Hebdomadaire" 19 April 2006 CPJ calls on King to probe government-organized protests against magazine 20 March 2006 Twelve websites blocked for posting cartoons 7 March 2006 Unfair trial proceedings against weekly fuel CPJ's suspicion that record damages awarded are "politically-motivated" 20 February 2006 Fines deal potentially fatal blow to "Le Journal Hebdomadaire" 17 February 2006 Reporters sans frontières appelle au calme : "Le Journal Hebdomadaire" pris à parti par des manifestants hostiles 17 February 2006 RSF appeals for calm as angry demonstrators mob "Le Journal Hebdomadaire" over controversial cartoons 17 February 2006 Moroccan newspaper says it is a victim of state-organized protests, Syrian journalist arrested over cartoons 15 February 2006

Morocco

Blogger Boubaker Al-Yadib sentenced to six months in prison 2 February 2010 Country's most critical publication faces closure 1 February 2010 Sentences against editor and cartoonist upheld, then overturned 5 January 2010 Jail sentences for blogger and Internet café owner 17 December 2009 Court bans "Al Masheel" newspaper 20 November 2009


 
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