Morocco: Activists Protest Trial of Journalists, Lawmaker

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Morocco: Activists Protest Trial of Journalists, Lawmaker

Activists protested on Thursday outside a Moroccan court in support of four journalists and a member of the Democratic Labor Confederation (CDT) who are being tried for publishing content deemed confidential.

The defendants stand accused of publishing in late 2016 excerpts of a parliamentary commission's debates over huge deficit at the national pension fund while the CDT member is accused of providing information on these debates.

The journalists and activists chanted slogans outside the courthouse in the capital Rabat condemning limitations imposed on media freedom.

They called for guarantees on freedom of expression and the immediate end of the trial.

Thursday's hearing was adjourned to March 8.

The head of the national press union, Abdellah Bekkali, said he was worried by the increase of legal cases against journalists in Morocco.

He described the trial of the journalists and the parliamentarian as an attempt to weaken and humiliate freedom of expression in the country.

Abdelhak Belachgar, one of the journalists on trial, also said: "This trial is quite unique. We're being prosecuted for publishing accurate information."

"We're being prosecuted according to elements in the penal code relevant to professional secrecy, not according to the press code," the journalist with Akhbar al-Yaoum newspaper added.



France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
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France Declines to Comment on Algeria’s Anger over Recognition of Morocco’s Claim over Sahara

French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)
French President Emmanuel Macron and Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. (AFP file)

Paris declined to comment on Algeria’s “strong condemnation” of the French government’s decision to recognize Morocco’s claim over the Sahara.

The office of the French Foreign Ministry refused to respond to an AFP request for a comment on the Algeria’s stance.

It did say that further comments could impact the trip Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is set to make to France in late September or early October.

The visit has been postponed on numerous occasions over disagreements between the two countries.

France had explicitly expressed its constant and clear support for the autonomy rule proposal over the Sahara during Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne’s visit to Morocco in February, reported AFP.

The position has helped improve ties between Rabat and Paris.

On Thursday, the Algerian Foreign Ministry expressed “great regret and strong denunciation" about the French government's decision to recognize an autonomy plan for the Western Sahara region "within Moroccan sovereignty”.

Algeria was informed of the decision by France in recent days, an Algerian foreign ministry statement added.

The ministry also said Algeria would draw all the consequences from the decision and hold the French government alone completely responsible.