19 April 2006

Alert

Appeal court upholds exorbitant damages award against "Journal Hebdomadaire"


Incident details

Aboubakr Jamai, Fahd Iraqi

fined

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(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders has voiced outrage at the Rabat appeal court's 18 April 2006 decision to uphold a damages award of 3 million dirhams (270,000 euros) against the "Journal Hebdomadaire" newspaper in a libel suit brought by the European Strategic Intelligence and Security Centre (ESISC), a think-tank based in Brussels.

"The judges are clearly trying to crush the newspaper by confirming this exorbitant damages award, the biggest ever in a libel suit in Morocco," Reporters Without Borders said. "A representative of our organisation attended the trial and saw how the rights of the defence were not respected, especially when defence witnesses were cross-examined."

The organisation promised to help the "Journal Hebdomadaire"'s management decide the next steps to be taken in the case, with the aim of ensuring this independent newspaper's survival.

The newspaper's managing editor, Aboubakr Jamai, and its editorial secretary, Fahd Iraqi, are also being fined 50,000 dirhams (4,500 euros) each as a result of the libel action, which was brought by the ESISC over a "Journal Hebdomadaire" article questioning the objectivity of a report it issued about the Polisario Front, which wants independence for Western Sahara.

"I expected this verdict because the courts do not respect legal principles and every kind of excess is tolerated," said Abderrahim Jamai, "le Journal"'s lawyer. The two journalists and their lawyers were not in court when the ruling was issued.



Source:

Reporters Without Borders
47, rue Vivienne
75002 Paris
France
rsf (@) rsf.org
Phone: +33 1 44 83 84 84
Fax: +33 1 45 23 11 51
 

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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 "Journal Hebdomadaire" target of steady government harassment 6 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

Journalist barred from his office 29 December 2011 Moroccan journalist expelled 27 December 2011 Police question over 100 people in advance of parliamentary vote 25 November 2011 Appeal court upholds editor's prison sentence 25 October 2011 ANHRI condemns attack on headquarters of newspaper 14 October 2011 See all alerts: Morocco


 
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