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Moroccan Government Decides To Free
Blogger Who Criticized King |
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September 25, 2008 On 18
September, a Moroccan appeals court overturned
a two-year jail sentence given to a local
blogger for criticising the King and the royal
family, report the Arabic Network for Human
Rights Information (ANHRI), the Committee to
Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters
Without Borders (RSF).
On 8 September, Mohammed
Erraji was jailed and fined 5,000 dirhams
(US$620) for failing to respect the King. The
trial reportedly lasted 10 minutes. He was
later released on bail pending the appeals
court ruling.
Erraji had accused
Morocco's monarchy of encouraging a culture of
dependency in an article for online newspaper
Hespress.com. He argued that the King's custom
of granting favours, such as taxi licences to
a lucky few, encouraged people to rely on
handouts. Read an English translation of the
article on the Global Voices Online website:
http://tinyurl.com/5lo2ol
The presiding judge at
the appeals court cited flaws in prosecuting
the case of the 29-year-old blogger, including
the failure to summon him to attend trial 15
days before he actually appeared in court and
his unlawful detention ahead of the trial.
"I am very happy with
today's court ruling, which came after a
summary and unfair ruling," Erraji told CPJ on
the day of his release. "But at the same time,
my happiness is mixed with feelings of
sadness, because it never occurred to me that
one day I would be arbitrarily accused of
showing disrespect toward the King, which is a
grave accusation."
A source close to Erraji
said, "I cannot overstate the importance of
the support by organisations like IFEX and
International PEN. I would like to thank them
for unconditionally standing by their
principles, and would like to state that their
moral authority is an inspiration to all of
us."
Blogger Jailed for Two Years for Criticising King
The blogger had received
sentence of two years in jail after a
startling short trial, report the Arabic
Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI),
International PEN's Writers in Prison
Committee (WiPC) and Reporters Without Borders
(RSF).
On 8 September, the
court of Agadir in southern Morocco condemned
Mohammed Erraji to two years' imprisonment and
a fine of 5,000 Moroccan dirhams (US$620) for
"failure to uphold the respect due to the
King." His trial reportedly lasted 10 minutes.
According to WiPC, Erraji is in poor health.
Erraji was arrested on 4
September following the publication on the
online news site Hespress.com of an article
accusing Morocco's monarchy of encouraging a
culture of dependency. He argued that the
King's custom of granting favours, such as
taxi licenses to a lucky few, encouraged
people to rely on handouts. Read an English
translation of the article on the Global
Voices Online website: http://tinyurl.com/5lo2ol
"Erraji was given a
summary trial for which he had no time to find
a lawyer and was unable to defend himself,"
says RSF. "The Moroccan blogosphere is known
for being dynamic, so this is big step
backwards for the kingdom."
Erraji is the first
Moroccan blogger to be prosecuted and
convicted for an article posted online. Erraji
is Hespress.com's Agadir correspondent and
writes regularly for the site. He also has his
own blog published under his real name, "The
World of Mohammed Erraji", that was started in
March 2007 and deals mainly with political and
social issues.
A website and petition
have been setup in solidarity with the blogger
at: http://www.helperraji.com as well as a
Facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=30771925854
In a separate case,
newspaper editor Ahmed Reda Benchemsi, who is
also facing charges of disrespect for the
King, had his one-year case adjourned
indefinitely last week.
Benchemsi told RSF, "The
court was clearly trying to close the case
without having to reach a verdict ... I am
supposed to see this decision as a
conciliatory gesture. But the judge can call
me back to court whenever he wants." |
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