Editor of Moroccan news website harassed
New York, June 20, 2017–Moroccan authorities should cease harassing Hamid al-Mahdaoui, the editor of the news website Badil, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Moroccan Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit has filed a criminal defamation complaint against al-Mahdaoui, and the editor says he was questioned for six hours last week regarding a video the website…
Moroccan website director held in solitary confinement pending trial
Moroccan security forces on June 6, 2017, arrested Mohamed al-Asrihi, a video journalist and the director of the opposition news website Rif24, from the home of activist Mohsen Athari in the northern town of Trogout, where he was hiding, according to news reports and a statement from Rif24.
Amid Gulf tensions, press is used as a political pawn
Today Bahrain became the latest Gulf nation to put pressure on news outlets amid political tension, when its Interior Ministry announced that anyone publishing support or sympathy for Qatar faces up to five years in prison. The announcement came the day after the United Arab Emirates used the threat of prison to demarcate how journalists…
Bahrain orders independent outlet Al-Wasat to cease publication
New York, June 5, 2017–Bahraini authorities should revoke an order barring the independent news outlet Al-Wasat from publishing and stop harassing the newspaper and its journalists, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. The Ministry of Information Affairs yesterday ordered Al-Wasat to cease publishing in print and online indefinitely, the outlet’s editor-in-chief Mansoor al-Jamri, told…
Press freedom on OGP agenda as authoritarianism rises
There was poignancy to the Paris summit of the Open Government Partnership, as leaders from government and civil society took the stage to defend a political ideology under siege: liberal democracy. French President François Hollande, who amid weak public support announced he will not seek re-election in 2017, called democracy “so fragile and so precious.”…
Safety and Protection of Journalists – Best Practices
Community of Democracies Working Group on promoting Freedom of Opinion and Expression is holding a high level side event to the UNGA on best practices for safety and protection of journalists on September 23, 2016 from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST. This event will provide an opportunity for states, experts and media activists to…
Moroccan court orders news website to shut for three months, fines editor
New York, August 14, 2105–A Moroccan criminal court on Monday ordered the independent news website Badil to suspend operations for three months and handed a harsh fine to its editor-in-chief, according to news reports and the journalist who spoke to CPJ. Hamid al-Mahdaoui was convicted of criminal defamation.
Moroccan king must allow Ali Lmrabet to practice journalism
The Committee to Protect Journalists today joined 161 organizations, writers, journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, and politicians in calling on the king of Morocco to stop the administrative harassment of Ali Lmrabet. The satirical journalist has been on hunger strike outside the U.N.’s Geneva offices since June 24, according to news reports.
Moroccan editor, source convicted in defamation case
New York, June 30–Moroccan journalist Hamid al-Mahdaoui was handed a four-month suspended prison sentence by a Casablanca court on Monday and ordered, along with a co-defendant named in the case, to pay a combined 100,000 Moroccan dirhams ($10,290) in damages for criminal defamation, according to the journalist’s website and other news outlets.