Morocco court upholds journalist Omar Radi's six-year prison sentence

Moroccan journalist and rights activist Omar Radi has been sentenced on appeal to six years in prison on espionage and rape charges.

Radi, a 35-year-old freelance journalist known as a known vocal critic of the authorities, has insisted on his innocence throughout his two-year-long trial.

"My only fault is to have demanded independent justice," Radi said before the judge's verdict on Thursday, to applause from supporters in the courtroom.

Accused of undermining state security with "foreign financing" and of rape, Radi was initially sentenced last July.

His trial began in 2020 just days after human rights group Amnesty International said Moroccan authorities had planted Pegasus spyware on his cellphone - a claim denied by Morocco.

Radi's arrest and detention was protested by rights activists, intellectuals and politicians both inside the country and abroad.

Amnesty International slammed the trial as "grossly unfair" on Thursday.

"The Moroccan government has subjected Omar Radi to years of harassment, 19 months of detention in solitary confinement and an espionage prosecution over his journalistic work," the rights group said in a statement.

"Omar's trial last year was marred with grave violations of due process from start to finish.  The same arbitrary denial of defense rights remained on appeal," the statement said.

"All espionage convictions against Omar Radi should be quashed as these are politically motivated convictions that violate his right to freedom of expression," it said, adding: "Only a fair trial can ensure justice for both Omar and the complainant making allegations of rape against him."

Earlier this week, the prosecution had called for "the maximum sentence" against him. Rape is punishable by up to ten years imprisonment.

After the original sentence was upheld, defence lawyer Miloud Kandil called it "a very hard judgment".

"We have exposed all the elements proving the innocence of Omar Radi before the court but sadly nothing has been taken into account," he told AFP.

In the same case, fellow journalist Imad Stitou was sentenced to one year in prison.

Stitou, who was initially presented as the sole witness for the prosecution, was said to have been present with Radi when he allegedly raped a woman.

Stitou left Morocco for Tunisia and was tried in absentia.

Radi's is the latest in a series of harsh sentences passed against journalists in the North African kingdom and in neighbouring Algeria.

Authorities in both countries have detained and tried journalists on charges ranging from harming national interests to sexual assault.

Morocco is currently ranked 136th out of 180 countries on watchdog RSF's World Press Freedom Index.