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The
Forum of Moroccan Journalists Abroad has called on international officials to
work towards securing the release of Ali Anouzla
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Journalists
in the Moroccan Diaspora have expressed their support for Ali Anouzla, who was
arrested on September 17 on counter terrorism charge.
The Forum of Moroccan Journalists
Abroad (FMJA) has written a letter to UN officials over the
incarceration of a fellow journalist who remains in detention in Morocco on
charges of inciting terrorism.
Ali Anouzla, the editor of Lakome.com
website, was arrested on September 17 after posting an article which
addressed a video attributed to the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
(AQIM).
The letter explains that Moroccan
officials are examining three charges against Anouzla: providing material
assistance to parties engaged in acts of terrorism; offering tools for the
execution of a terrorist act, and commending an act that amounts to a terrorist
crime.
“The Forum of Moroccan Journalists
Abroad, an online network of more than 200 journalists based in countries
around the world, is addressing you today, each in your respective mandates,
hoping to draw your attention to the highly urgent case of Moroccan journalist
Ali Anouzla, who has been incarcerated and charged under the Moroccan
counterterrorism law.
The case against Mr. Anouzla, the
publishing director of the Arabic edition of the Moroccan news website,
Lakome.com, is fuelling fears that Morocco’s counterterrorism law is being used
as a pretext to further clamp down on free speech and the freedom of the press,
and to undermine the independence of the judiciary.”
The letter includes a description of
Anouzla and his professional background, which has often led to him bumping
heads with the Moroccan authorities.
“Mr. Anouzla, who has been based in
Morocco throughout his journalistic career, is known to the Moroccan
authorities for his fearless reporting and commentary, which has often put him
on a collision course with influential circles within the country’s political
establishment. Just recently, Mr. Anouzla accused state agencies of targeting
him via an insidious online campaign, and later challenged the Ministry of
Interior’s denial of the existence of such a campaign. The Ministry, in turn,
accused him
of “abusing the freedom of speech”.
Just this summer, Mr. Anouzla was in
the limelight after breaking the story of a royal pardon that had been
unjustifiably granted to a Spanish national... prompting some observers to
conjecture that Mr. Anouzla’s scoop might eventually cause him trouble should the
powerful circles close to the king decide to seek revenge.”
The letter goes on to set out the
group’s specific concerns, highlighting the worrying trend of using the
country’s counter-terrorism laws to prosecute individuals who fall foul of the
authorities.
“In view of the volatile relationship
between Mr. Anouzla and the Moroccan authorities, and given the rising trend of
journalist prosecutions by the Moroccan state in recent years – trials that are
conducted under criminal law and result in prison sentences, not to mention the
Moroccan state’s precedents in suing some journalists under counterterrorism
law, and prosecuting others for criticising the law itself and the practices of
the security forces in charge of its enforcement –, we hereby express our
deepest concern regarding the use of the counterterrorism law as an instrument to
clamp down on the freedom of speech and the freedom of the news media in
Morocco.
We also fear the interference of the
Government, as well as the parliament, with the judicial process in an attempt
to instrumentalize the judiciary in a score-settling exercise targeting the
independent press.
We consider the prosecution of a
journalist who was simply doing his job to be an encroachment on the rights to
freedom of expression and opinion and to information, as stipulated under
Article 27 of the Moroccan constitution and in all international human rights
instruments, namely the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(article 19)."
On September 28 , journalists from
around the
world expressed solidarity with Anouzla, bearing signs declaring him
a journalist as opposed to a terrorist. A number of journalists
participated in a one-day hunger strike as a show of support for Anouzla.
Doha Centre for Media Freedom has also
expressed support for Anouzla and joined other groups in calling for the
Moroccan authorities to release the journalist and immediately drop all the
charges he currently faces.
Source: DCMF
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