In Morocco, press freedom shrinks with Hirak protests
As part of the Moroccan authorities' efforts to silence the Hirak protest movement, journalists are facing pressure and repression, prompting questions about their objectivity and the freedom of the press.
CASABLANCA — Eight journalists have been jailed since the beginning of the Hirak, a protest movement in the Rif region in northern Morocco that started in October 2016 following the death of Mouhcine Fikri, a fish vendor who was crushed to death by a garbage truck as he tried to get to his confiscated fish. Most of those arrested are citizen journalists reporting for local websites covering the protests and therefore targeted by the crackdown the Moroccan authorities initiated three months ago. The Moroccan Association of Human Rights told Al-Monitor that at least 300 people have been arrested since May as part of the authorities’ efforts to silence the movement.
Among those arrested are Mohamed el-Asrihi and Jawad Sabiri of the Rif24 news website, Abdelali Haddou of Araghi TV, Rif Presse photographer Houssein al-Idrissi and Fouad Assaidi of Awar TV. Rabie al-Ablaq, a local correspondent for the Badil Info news site, was hospitalized in early August 36 days into a hunger strike. He is currently detained at the Oukacha prison in Casablanca and treated at the infirmary, according to activists.
Mohamed Hilali, the director of Rif Presse who was sentenced June 30 to five months in prison for “insulting police officers in the course of their work” and “demonstrating without prior authorization,” was the only journalist released as part of King Mohammed VI's royal pardoning of some activists arrested for taking part in the Hirak. His release brings the number of journalists who remain detained to seven.
“[The journalists] were arrested while providing news coverage in the Rif region and in RSF’s view they have no place behind bars,” said Reporters Without Borders in an Aug. 18 statement addressed to the Moroccan Ministry of Culture and Communication. Morocco was ranked 133rd in Reporters Without Borders’ 2017 World Press Freedom Index.
