In Morocco, journalists – and their families – still struggle to cope with spyware fears
By CPJ MENA Staff Last July, when the Pegasus Project investigation revealed that imprisoned Moroccan journalist Soulaiman Raissouni was selected for surveillance by Israeli-made Pegasus spyware, the journalist could only laugh. “I was so sure,” his wife Kholoud Mokhtari said Raissouni told her from prison. Raissouni is one of seven local journalists named by the…
Moroccan journalist Omar Radi sentenced to 6 years in prison; Imad Stitou convicted of complicity
New York, July 19, 2021 – In response to a Casablanca court’s decision today to sentence Moroccan investigative journalist Omar Radi to six years in prison and journalist Imad Stitou to six months, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement: “We strongly condemn the sentencing today in Morocco of journalists Imad Stitou and…
Israeli lawyer Eitay Mack on bringing transparency to surveillance exports that threaten press freedom
“Many countries are using these technologies to put people in jail,” Israeli lawyer Eitay Mack told CPJ in a recent video interview. He was describing advanced surveillance capabilities, such as those that CPJ has documented being used to target journalists like Omar Radi and Maati Monjib, who were both jailed in Morocco in 2020. Israeli companies like NSO Group and Cellebrite market equipment to…
CPJ joins call for Moroccan authorities to release journalist Omar Radi, ensure fair trial
Yesterday, CPJ and 14 other civil society groups urged Moroccan authorities to release Le Desk investigative reporter Omar Radi, who has been in pretrial detention since his arrest on July 29, 2020, and to ensure that he receives a fair trial. Radi’s trial on charges of sexual assault and undermining state security was set to begin today, but the main…
Morocco’s new tactic to punish journalists: charge them with sex crimes
Moroccan journalists Taoufik Bouachrine, Soulaiman Raissouni, and Omar Radi have a lot in common. All three have a nose for corruption, penning op-eds or investigations alleging government abuse. And all three have been charged with or sentenced to prison for sex crimes. Press freedom advocates and the journalists’ family members told CPJ that Moroccan authorities are using trumped up…
World leaders should regulate spyware, halt surveillance of journalists
CPJ campaign documents ties between spying and other press freedom violations New York, March 15, 2020 – In light of dozens of incidents in which journalists and those close to them have been targeted with spyware, the Committee to Protect Journalists today launched a campaign calling on governments to stop the use of spyware and…
Ten years after the Arab Spring, the region’s media faces grave threats. Here are the top press freedom trends
In early February 2011, Alaa Abdelfattah was in Egypt’s Tahrir Square, documenting and participating in the nascent pro-democracy uprising that would topple the government and transform the country and the region. Today, he is in prison on anti-state and false news charges, which his family believes are partly retaliatory for his work. Abdelfattah is one of…
Bertha Foundation: Omar Radi’s arrest blocked Moroccan land rights exposé
The 10th time journalist Omar Radi was summoned by Moroccan police this summer, he was arrested on multiple charges including undermining state security and sexual assault, as CPJ documented in July. He was placed in solitary confinement in the Oukacha Prison in Casablanca to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19, and remained there as…
Journalist Omar Radi arrested, charged in Morocco
New York, July 29, 2020 – Moroccan authorities must release journalist Omar Radi immediately and refrain from filing retaliatory charges against the press, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Today, the National Brigade of Judicial Police summoned Radi, a reporter at the independent Le Desk news website, and then transferred him to the Casablanca…