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The activist and blogger Saida El Alami was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of around 475 euros for several posts made on her Facebook account against the Moroccan police and justice. Her case occurs in the context of increased criminal investigations and prosecutions of human rights defenders for messages on social networks criticizing the reign of Mohamed VI, according to Amnesty International.
Defamation and insult to the Police and Moroccan justice. These are the charges for which a Court of First Instance in Casablanca sentenced the activist and blogger Saida El Alami to two years in prison and a fine of 5,000 dirhams (about 475 euros).
The activist, who belongs to the Moroccan Women Against Political Detention forum, was accused of some messages she posted on her Facebook account in which she criticized the directors of the Police and the Moroccan internal espionage service after several agents questioned her neighbors when she had left her house. As a result of those charges, El Alami was arrested more than a month ago, on March 23.
“It is very sad and very unfortunate. We have presented arguments with strong and constant legal grounds, but it is like pouring water into the sand, “her lawyer, Suad Brahma, told the EFE Agency.
It was not the first time that El Alami published messages against the Moroccan authorities. He had spoken out against the convictions of several journalists for sexual crimes that, according to the activist, did not have enough evidence.
He had also strongly criticized King Mohamed VI, calling him a “despot”.
El Alami’s conviction is part of a wave of prosecutions of human rights defenders in Morocco. Many, like El Alami, had used their social networks to criticize the Moroccan authorities and the king himself.
Amnesty International’s call for an end to the prosecutions
The case of El Alami is not isolated. Rabia Ablaq is the name of another Moroccan activist from the northern Rif region who was sentenced to four years in prison by another Court of First Instance. He was accused of insulting King Mohamed VI on his social networks.
Prosecutions and investigations that have been condemned by Amnesty International.
“In the last two months, the Moroccan authorities have stepped up their harassment against activists and human rights defenders,” read a statement published on April 7.
The organization denounced the case of El Alami and also that of three human rights defenders. H H. that were being processed and investigated.
It is about the processes of the blogger Mohamed Bouzlouf, who had precisely shown solidarity with the activist, who was sentenced to two months in prison; and that of Abderrazak Boughanbour and Brahim Nafai, who had also been summoned for questioning over some posts on Facebook.
In them, Boughanbou, former president of the Moroccan League for the Defense of Human Rights (LMDDH), asked to coordinate protests in the country, and Nafai, professor of philosophy and national secretary of the youth section of the political party ‘Annahj Addimocraty’ ( ‘The democratic way’), a boycott of the purchase of fuel for three days.
For this reason, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director for the Middle East and North Africa assured that “the Moroccan authorities are harassing and intimidating activists through unsubstantiated criminal investigations and false charges in a brazen attempt to silence critical voices and suppress peaceful activism.
A chase on social networks
As reported by the newspaper ‘The country’the Moroccan authorities have placed social networks at the center of their attention, as it is one of the spaces left for citizens to express their discontent with the reign of Mohamed VI.
According to the outlet, at least 15 people were prosecuted in Morocco during 2019 for their comments through these mass communication platforms.
Some arrests that would be explained by the replacement of the Press Code by the use of the Penal Code to punish journalists and even activists who express themselves in the digital sphere.
‘El País’ cites the case of the independent media outlet ‘Ajbar al Yaum’, which closed after the newspaper’s director, Taoufik Bouachrine, and its editor-in-chief, Suleimán Raissouni, were found guilty of sexual crimes.
With EFE and local media
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