morocco

Police arrested Lhaisan, a reporter for Rasd TV, outside his home on July 4, 2014, according to news reports. Rasd TV, which is affiliated with the Sahrawi people in the Western Sahara region, broadcasts from Sahrawi refugee camps in Algeria and is owned by the Polisario Front, a national liberation movement composed of native Sahrawis…

Sokrate, a prominent blogger, was arrested by security forces while leaving an Internet café in Marrakech. In June, a local court sentenced him to two years in prison on charges of drug possession and trafficking, according to news reports. Sokarte is known for his criticism of the monarchy and political Islam, which is widely believed…

Nini, executive editor of the Moroccan daily Al-Massae, was arrested following the publication of several articles criticizing perceived abuses in the country’s counterterrorism efforts. In May, a Casablanca court refused to release the prominent journalist on bail. His lawyers argued that their client was being improperly prosecuted under the penal code, which provides harsher penalties…

Al-Herd, editor of the Oujda-based weekly newspaper Al-Sharq, was detained on June 12 along with two other journalists–Al-Sharq Editor Abdel Majid Ben Taher and Mustapha Qashnini, editor of the Oujda-based weekly Al-Hayat Al-Maghribiya–under Morocco’s new antiterrorism law and later charged with “extolling the actions that comprise terrorism.” Ben Taher and Qashnini were released in July,…

Lmrabet, the owner and editor of two weeklies, the French-language Demain and its Arabic-language sister publication, Douman, was jailed on May 21 after a court in the capital, Rabat, convicted him of “insulting the king,” “undermining the monarchy,” and “challenging the territorial integrity of the state.” He was sentenced to four years in prison (later…

Darif, a journalist for the leftist weekly Al-Amal al-Democrati, was detained by local authorities in Smara Province of Western Sahara, which is controlled by Morocco. Darif was detained at a hospital where he was trying to interview individuals injured earlier in the day during demonstrations. He was taken to a police station and beaten, according…

Taoufik Bouachrine, a columnist and the publisher ofAkhbar al-Youm, an independent daily newspaper, is serving a 15-year sentence on charges that local journalists and press freedom advocates say they believe are retaliation for his critical reporting. He has been in solitary confinement for three years.  Moroccan police arrested Bouachrine on February 23, 2018, at the Akhbar al-Youmheadquarters in…

Moroccan journalist Hamid al-Mahdaoui is serving a three-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2018 as part of a mass trial of people accused of being part of the anti-corruption group Al-Hirak al-Shaaby, or the Popular Movement.  Police arrested al-Mahdaoui, an editor and reporter for the news website Badil, on July 20, 2017, as he…

Moroccan journalist Mohamed al-Asrihi is serving a five-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2018 as part of a mass trial of people accused of being part of the anti-corruption group Al-Hirak al-Shaaby, or the Popular Movement. At the time of his arrest in 2017, al-Asrihi was covering protests organized by the movement over the…

Moroccan blogger Abdelkabir al-Hor is serving a four-year sentence for “terrorism apologism.” The blogger’s brother said that he believes authorities detained al-Hor because of his coverage of the anti-corruption group Al-Hirak al-Shaaby, or the Popular Movement. The Popular Movement organized protests in the Rif area in 2016 following the death of a fishmonger, who was…