Rights Groups Condemn Human Rights Violations in Morocco

Hasan Al-Rashidi, director of Al-Jazeerah in Rebat, and Hasan Ibrahim, coordinator of the Moroccan Center for Human Rights in Sidi Ifni, have been accused of promoting fabricated news.

Al-Jazeerah, as well as other news agencies, aired that there have been killings during these confrontations. Immediately after finding that such a story was wrong, the channel aired the story’s disclaimer. However the Moroccan government saw it an opportunity to sue both of them.

The trial session was held on Tuesday July 1^st, and postponed till next Friday’s session.

Human rights activists who watched the tribunal said that the case is political rather than legal. More than 50 lawyers advocated Hasan Rushdi and filed many demurrals to postpone the case till a longer period as happens with all tribunals to be able to examine the charges and prepare pleadings.

Dr. Haytham Manna, Head of the Arab Commission for Human Rights (ACHR), said that Morocco adopts the “coercive displacement” policy against journalists.

Since the human rights organizations in Egypt unite in solidarity with Al-Jazeerah and the Moroccan Center for Human Rights, they stress that the Moroccan government’s choice to muzzle the journalists and human rights groups is misleading and may lead to worsened crisis and loss of satisfaction among the people; the government should endorse civil and political freedoms.

Signatory Organizations:

–          Arab Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo)

–          Egyptian Society for Supporting Democratic Development

–          Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC)

–          Arab Program for Human Rights Activists

–          Earth Center for Human Rights

–          Civil Observatory for Human Rights

–          Andalus Center for Tolerance and Anti- Violence Studies

–          Dialogue Assembly for Development and Human Rights

–          Egyptian Society for Promoting Societal Participation

–          Maet Center for Constitutional and Human Rights Studies

–          Arab organization for Supporting Civil Society and Human Rights

–          Egyptian Observatory for Justice and Law

–          Arab Council for supporting Fair Tribunals

–          Egyptian Center for Right of Education