(RSF/IFEX) – Jailed journalist and editor Ali Lmrabet has filed a suit for slander against Moroccan Communications Minister Nabil Benabdallah for calling him a liar at an 18 June 2003 press conference in Paris. The suit was presented to a Paris court on 16 September by Lmrabet’s lawyer, Jean Martin. Lmrabet is owner and editor […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Jailed journalist and editor Ali Lmrabet has filed a suit for slander against Moroccan Communications Minister Nabil Benabdallah for calling him a liar at an 18 June 2003 press conference in Paris. The suit was presented to a Paris court on 16 September by Lmrabet’s lawyer, Jean Martin.
Lmrabet is owner and editor of “Demain Magazine” and “Douman” and RSF’s correspondent in Morocco. On 17 June, he was sentenced on appeal to three years in prison for “insulting the person of the king”, “undermining territorial integrity” and “attacking the institution of the monarchy.” The journalist has dual French and Moroccan citizenship.
Lmrabet had published a series of satirical articles and cartoons in his two publications, which have since both been banned. The journalist was treated at Rabat’s Avicenne Hospital after going on a 50-day hunger strike to protest his detention. He was sent back to Salé prison on 11 August.
The communications minister had said Lmrabet distributed “disinformation, lies and insults . . . Each issue [of his papers] was filled with such things and I can give you hundreds of examples . . . He has never behaved like a journalist.” He added that Lmrabet “was not quite right in the head” and had a medical history.
Lmrabet’s lawyer said the remarks were “clearly defamatory” and “harmed the reputation of a man who has spent his life informing the public at his own risk, and is now in prison for doing so.”
On 29 July, RSF appealed in vain to King Mohammed VI to pardon Lmrabet. The organisation said, “The offence of ‘bearing ill will’ cannot and should not be punished with a prison sentence. This is the rule in all democracies and should be the rule in Morocco too. It affects the reputation of both your kingdom and yourself.
“Lmrabet is a journalist, who pokes fun and mocks things, but he is just a journalist. A writer must not be jailed simply for offending the monarch. Lmrabet’s jail sentence is a bad omen at a time when Moroccans should be united in the face of terrorism. You are the only person who can correct this error and repair this injustice.”
