Morocco must release imprisoned demonstrators and respect freedom of the press!

In the run-up to the annual throne speech of Morocco’ King Mohammed VI. (July 30), the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) has appealed to the head of the state to release a group of Berbers/Amazighen, who were imprisoned following protests in the Rif Mountains, and to allow free media coverage of the protest movement Hirak. The Hirak movement is calling for an end to corruption in Morocco and for a development of the long-neglected Rif region. The movement is mainly supported Berbers, who are also known as Amazighen.

“In order to suppress public protests, the Moroccan authorities are taking increasingly harsh measures against journalists,” criticized Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Monday –demanding the immediate release of the head of the renowned web information service Al Badil, Hamid el-Mahdaoui. On Monday, a court will have to decide whether to issue an arrest warrant against him. Al Badil had been arrested last Wednesday, on the evening before a demonstration in the city of Al Hoceima in the Rif Mountains, which had been forbidden by the authorities. He is accused of having initiated public protests and of “breaking the law”. He is threatened with up to five years’ imprisonment. In order to enforce the ban on the demonstration, a total number of 40,000 security forces had been deployed to the city and its surroundings.

There are also investigations against six other editors who published critical reports on the protests in the Rif region. They are threatened with imprisonment and financial penalties, even though they had only done their job as journalists, Delius reported. “The penalties can be draconian. Mohamed El Hilali, the publisher of the Rif Express information service, was sentenced to five years imprisonment for allegedly defaming police officers – and the authorities closed down his information service.”

In his throne speech, King Mohammed VI. will probably have to comment on the ongoing protests in the north of the country. After trying to appease the protest movement by criticizing corruption within the authorities and the abuse of power by individual government agencies, he recently decided to deploy more security personnel. More than 200 demonstrators were sent to prison since the end of October 2016. Last week, at least 35 people were arrested

Header Photo: UNclimatechange via Flickr