Morocco jails activist for 3 years over social media posts

A Moroccan court sentenced human rights activist Rida Benotmane to three years in jail for "contempt of constitutional institutions" on social media, his family told AFP on Tuesday.

The 46-year-old activist was arrested on 9 September over Facebook and YouTube posts dated 2021, in which he urged a "protest against extreme security measures in Morocco," according to his lawyer Mohamed Sadkou.

A court in the capital Rabat also handed Benotmane a 20,000 dirham (US$ 1,835) fine.

Benotmane, a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), a non-governmental organisation, argued before the court "that his comments on YouTube fall within the scope of freedom of expression and do not constitute an offence."

The activist also deleted his Facebook account before his arrest.

In theory, Morocco's constitution guarantees freedom of expression and the right to information. It also prohibits any form of prior censorship and says a "High Authority for Broadcasting Communication ensures respect for pluralism."

Amnesty International and the Moroccan rights association have called for his release.

Meanwhile, several activists and journalists have voiced solidarity with Benotmane, warning of the shrinking freedom of speech in the North African kingdom.

"‏My friend, the intellectual Rida Benotmane, was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes of opinion. All my support to his mom and family," tweeted Maati Mounjib, a Moroccan investigative journalist, who was arrested in 2020 for 'money laundering and fraud.' Mounjib was granted conditional release last year after launching a hunger strike.

صديقي المثقف الديمقراطي الدكتور رضى بنعثمان يُحكم عليه ظلما بثلاث سنوات سجنا نافذا بسبب تعبيره عن رأيه بحرية في وسائل التواصل الاجتماعية
Mon ami l’intellectuel Rida Benotmane condamné à trois ans de prison ferme pour délit d’opinion. Tout mon soutien à sa maman et famille pic.twitter.com/6x5IxLG5qG

— Maati Monjib (@MMonjib) November 9, 2022

AMDH has also urged authorities to release Saida El Alami, an activist similarly serving a three-year prison term for online "contempt of constitutional institutions".

In September, a Moroccan court sentenced Fatima Karim, 39, to two years in jail for "insulting Islam" in a satirical Facebook post about the Koran. Fatima launched a hunger strike last month to protest the "unjust sentence."

Morocco's AMDH said in its annual report in January that the kingdom had seen an "unprecedented regression" in freedom of expression and the press in 2021.

The NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has ranked Morocco 135th out of 180 countries in its 2022 world press freedom report.