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In a communiqué made public Wednesday, 27th of June, international NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced the harsh sentences Moroccan citizen journalists received for covering Hirak protests in Al Hoceima province.
«After an eight-month trial, six Moroccan citizen journalists, namely Mohamed Al Asrihi, Rabii Ablak, Abdelali Houd, El idrissi Houssein, Foued Essaidi and Jawad Al Sabiry were sentenced by the Casablanca Court of Appeals on June 27, 2018, to five-year prison terms for covering Hirak protests in the Rif», wrote the NGO demanding the «immediate release» of these convicted citizen journalists.
According to the Paris-based organization the six citizen journalists were tried for «publishing false news».
«Reporters without Borders condemns these harsh prison sentences handed down to citizen journalists who have only exercised their right, reporting on the social unrest that has shaken their country».
Meanwhile, Reporters Without Borders called for the «immediate release of Badil.info website editor Hamid el Mahdaoui after a Casablanca court decided to separate his trial from the trial of 53 co-defendants who, like him, are charged in connection with last year’s so-called Hirak protests in northern Morocco’s Rif region».
Citizen journalists arrested for covering Hirak protests
On Tuesday, the criminal chamber of the Casablanca Court of Appeals sentenced 53 Hirak detainees to prison terms ranging from one to 20 years.
While Hirak figure Nasser Zefzafi, Nabil Ahmjik, Ouassim Boustati and Samir Ighir received a 20-year sentence each for «undermining national security», six other detainees were convicted for «faking the fact that they were journalists».
The list includes Mohamed Al Asrihi, El Idrissi Houssein, Rabii Ablak, and Abdelali Houd who were sentenced to five years in prison and fined 2,000 dirhams.
Journalist Jawad Al Sabiry received a two-year sentence and a 2,000 dirhams fine, while his colleague Foued Essaidi was sentenced to three years in prison.
Last year, Reporters Without Borders said that 14 journalists and citizen journalists were arrested by the Moroccan authorities while several foreign reporters were expulsed.
