- DemocracyHuman Rights
- May 25, 2011
- 3 minutes read
ANHRI Appeals to Moroccan Authorities to Cease the Blocking and Ban Policy
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information has condemned today the decision taken by the Moroccan authorities to stop for the second week consecutively the broadcast of the cultural “Masharif” Program which has been preparing a series about the political movement in Morocco and the 20th February Movement.
The story began when the Moroccan TV issued a resolution to stop the broadcast of “Masharif” program the well-known Moroccan writer and poet Yassin Adnan has been preparing and presenting since five years. The broadcast stop resolution came as a result of the preparation of a series about the political movement in Morocco and the 20th February Movement to be shown through the program.
The program, broadcast each Wednesday, has broadcast more than 200 series through which it has been dealt with the Moroccan and Arabic cultures in general. The program has interviewed many Moroccan and Arab intellectuals and succeeded in attracting a great number of TV audience during the five consecutive years of the program life due to its credibility and professionalism.
The broadcast stop resolution has been preceded by some vexation behaviors starting from the broadcast stop of the series of the Islamic intellectual, Gamal El Bana, followed by the broadcast suspension of the series of “Al Jazeera” reporter in Washington, the Moroccan journalist Mohamed El Alami, and the changing of the program broadcast time to be at midnight instead of 10:30 PM, and ending by the resolution taken by Faisal Al Arishi the general manager of the Moroccan “National Society of Radio Diffusion and Television” to stop “Mashirif” program completely.
ANHRI has stated: “It is a grave mistake to close any media outlet or opinion platform, furthermore the policy of expropriation, blocking and ban is no more effective in the Arab world in the wake of the revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests demanding more democratic rights. Instead of following the blocking and ban policy, the Moroccan authorities should learn the lesson and respect the freedom of opinion and expression.”
ANHRI appeals the Moroccan authorities to stop monitoring the different media and press platforms, highlighting the importance of freedom in creating effective media to serve the society ambitions.
