(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Prime Minister Aberrahmane Youssoufi, RSF has protested the ban on the 28 July 1999 edition of the French weekly “Le Canard enchaîné”, which was not circulated in Morocco. The newspaper had featured a front-page story on the death of King Hassan II. Expressing the view that “satirical criticism also […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Prime Minister Aberrahmane Youssoufi, RSF has
protested the ban on the 28 July 1999 edition of the French weekly “Le
Canard enchaîné”, which was not circulated in Morocco. The newspaper had
featured a front-page story on the death of King Hassan II.
Expressing the view that “satirical criticism also benefits from the right
to free expression,” RSF asked the prime minister to “use [his] influence to
allow the spread of information, in line with the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Morocco.”
RSF also noted that this measure contradicts the expressed intention of the
new king, Mohammed VI, to further the country’s liberalisation. In a 30 July
speech, the king had expressed his attachment to “political
pluralism…human rights and the protection of individual and collective
rights.”
