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.



Report: Turkish Airlines Restarts Flights to Beirut

Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 TC-JVV plane takes off in Riga International Airport, Latvia January 17, 2020. (Reuters)
Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 TC-JVV plane takes off in Riga International Airport, Latvia January 17, 2020. (Reuters)
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Report: Turkish Airlines Restarts Flights to Beirut

Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 TC-JVV plane takes off in Riga International Airport, Latvia January 17, 2020. (Reuters)
Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-800 TC-JVV plane takes off in Riga International Airport, Latvia January 17, 2020. (Reuters)

Turkish Airlines has resumed flights from Istanbul to Beirut after a more than two-month suspension prompted by conflict in the Middle East, Türkiye's state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on Tuesday.

The airline, Türkiye's flag carrier, suspended flights to Beirut on Sept. 21 amid the conflict between Israel and the Lebanon-based Hezbollah group. The two sides agreed a ceasefire last week, though both accuse the other of violations.

Anadolu said the airline planned one flight per day in the first phase, rising to two daily flights on Friday. It said there would then be four daily flights from Dec. 11 onwards.

Turkish Airlines did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the Anadolu report and its details, but its website showed Istanbul-Beirut flights on sale.