(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Communications Mohammed Larbi Messari, RSF expressed its concern over “pressures that have been placed on shareholders of the Moroccan weekly ‘Demain'”. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary general, asked the minister “to find an explanation which will reassure him that the newspaper will remain independent.” According to information obtained […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of Communications Mohammed Larbi Messari, RSF expressed its concern over “pressures that have been placed on shareholders of the Moroccan weekly ‘Demain'”. Robert Ménard, RSF’s secretary general, asked the minister “to find an explanation which will reassure him that the newspaper will remain independent.”
According to information obtained by RSF, a number of the weekly’s shareholders have felt pressure “coming from circles close to those who hold power” to sell their shares to businessman Abdennasser Bouazza. Bouazza, who already held 24 % of the shares, is now in possession of 72 % of the capital. On 30 March 2000, during a press conference, managing editor of “Demain” Ali Lmrabet stated that the new majority shareholder wants the right to look at all the articles before they are published, and refuses to sign the transfer order to pay for the printing of issue four of the magazine. The issue is still stuck at the printer’s. In its first three issues, “Demain” touched on sensitive subjects such as the presence of the Mossad in Morocco, western Sahara’s future and the Islamic movement.
