By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CASABLANCA, Morocco– On June 29 three Arabic language newspapers were ordered to pay  three million Dirhams, about $372,300 US, for defaming a head of state.  The papers, the Al-Massae, Morocco’s most popular daily paper, Al-Jarida Al-Oula and Al-Ahdath Al-Magrebia, were sued in an action brought by a public prosecutor on behalf of the Libyan Embassy. The action was based on content published by all three papers since the beginning of 2008 that allegedly defamed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

In addition to the three million Dirham fine, several individual reporters from each paper have also been convicted of “attacks on the dignity of a head of state” and fined 100,000 Dirhams (about $12,410 US) per reporter. The reporters had called Gaddafi’s viewpoint “childish,” criticized the political theories that Gaddafi presented in his Green book, and for reporting the arrest of Gaddafi’s son and daughter-in-law in Geneva for assaulting their servants.  

The papers and their journalists are shocked and upset by this verdict.  The Moroccan Press Union demonstrations staged immediately following the decision.  If the convicted papers and journalists have to pay the fines, it could bankrupt all three papers.

The verdict has been taken as a direct attack on free speech and on Morocco’s developing press. Laws that restrict the press have been in effect throughout Morocco’s sovereign existence, but many of the laws were amended in 2001 granting the press more freedom.

The fines were not based upon a measure of damages that Gaddafi suffered, nor were the damages based upon the papers’ resources. The lack of basis for the fines makes it appear as though the fines were imposed as a means to scare journalists away from writing the stories that they want to and from expressing their opinions and analysis openly.

Mohamed Abdel Dayem, Committee to Protect Journalists program coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, said “The exorbitant amount in damages indicates that the courts are being used again to settle political scores with critical journalists and to put critical publications out of business.” In its annual report released this month the Moroccan Association of Human rights concluded that the right to a fair trial was violated in all proceedings involving journalists in 2008. The group said “the judiciary has been used by the state to settle scores with journalists, to seek revenge and terrorize citizens.”

The papers plan to appeal the verdict. Defense attorney for the papers Hassan Semlali has stated that this decision was a “clear violation of the law.”  Furthermore, Editor of Al-Jarida Al-Oula, Ali Anouzla, said the ruling would not prevent him or his colleagues from “doing their job” and thinks that the decision was politically motivated.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera- Papers Fined for Gaddafi Libel – 30 June 2009

Magharebia- Moroccan Newspapers Ordered to Pay in Kadhafi Defamation Suit– 30 June 2009

Al Arabiya- Moroccan Newspapers Fined for Insulting Gaddafi– 29 June 2009

Committee to Protect Journalists- In Qaddafi Case Court Hands Down Harsh Judgment– 29 June 2009

Reuters- Moroccan Papers Fined for Defaming Libya’s Gaddafi – 29 June 2009

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RABAT, Morocco– On June 24, Moroccan human rights activist Chekib El-Khiari, was sentenced to three years imprisonment for “gravely insulting state institutions” and for minor violations of Moroccan foreign account regulations. In addition, El-Khiari has been fined about 753,000 dirhams (US $90,360) for his actions. El-Khiari has been actively speaking out against Morocco’s drug policies for several years.

Human Rights Activist Chekib El-Khiari, Image Courtesy of Global Voices Online

El-Khiari was convicted of “gravely insulting state institutions” for his criticism that Morocco is failing to regulate and reign in the drug trade. This crime carries a maximum sentence of one month to one year imprisonment and a fine between 1,200 and 5,000 dirhams (US $144 to US $600), according to the Moroccan Penal code articles 263 and 265.

El-Khiari was also convicted of violating Moroccan foreign finance regulations for opening a bank account abroad in Melilla, in which he deposited € 225 (US $288) after he received authorization from the Moroccan exchange office. This money was payment for an article that El-Khiari wrote for the Spanish daily El País in 2006.

Human Rights Watch has speculated that the financial charges were only added in order to increase the maximum sentence El-Khiari could receive, and to further discredit El-Khiari and his statements. “Morocco is opening up in some respects, but its treatment of Chekib El-Khiari shows that when someone speaks out in ways that truly bother officials, they come down on him like a ton of bricks,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. Whitson further charged that the verdict against El-Khiari violates the basic right of freedom of expression, and that the verdict was meant to silence other activists in Morocco’s Rif region and to intimidate others.

Moroccan news agency MAP reported that Khayari also has been accused of taking money from foreign leaders in order to lead a campaign to discredit Moroccan efforts to stop drug trafficking.
El-Khiari is being held at Oukacha Prison in Casablanca, and his lawyers are planning to appeal the June 24 verdict.    

For more information, please see:

E-Taiwan News- Moroccan Activist Gets 3 Years in Jail on Contempt– 26 June 2009

Global Voices Online – Morocco: Human Rights Activist Jailed for Whistleblowing– 26 June 2009

Reuters- Morocco Court Jails Critic of Govt Drugs Policy– 24 June 2009

Human Rights Watch- Morocco: Narco-Traffic Whistleblower Unfairly Sentenced-24 June 2009

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

RAMALLAH, West Bank – On June 22, Palestinian government forces shut down the offices of As-Subeh (The Morning) and detained the newspaper’s chief editor, Sari Al-Qudweh.

The closure and arrest are the latest in a troubling trend in the Palestinian Territories, as journalists are entangled in the power struggle between the competing Hamas and Fatah parties.  In May 2009, Oussid Amarena of the Al-Aqsa television network was arrested, as was Mustapha Sabri, bureau chief for the pro-Hamas newspaper Filasteen.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) issued a report in May 2009 that since Hamas gained power in Gaza in 2007, media organizations in the Palestinian Territories have increasingly split along party lines, and have suffered threats on both sides.  While journalists in pro-Hamas organizations are detained in the West Bank, those working for pro-Fatah outlets are threatened by Gaza police.  Many journalists have been repeatedly arrested, while others have had passports revoked.  Those arrested are rarely charged with any crimes.  Reporters Without Borders has condemned the targeting of reporters by the opposing parties.

“Journalists are again paying the price of the political tension between the different Palestinian factions,” the press freedom advocacy group said in a recent statement.  “The Palestinian Authority does not allow any view but its own to be voiced in the West Bank and does not hesitate to harass pro-Hamas journalists.  The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip is no better.”

The Palestinian journalists’ union has also openly criticized the recent arrests and has called for the release of the detained journalists, saying in a statement that journalists should not be the target of political conflicts.  Both Hamas and Fatah have bans on publications they perceive as partisan.  The UNHCR reports that coercive measures by both parties have forced Palestinian journalists into self-censorship and have stifled freedom of information in the Palestinian Territories.

For more information, please see:

Ma’an News Agency – De Facto Government Shuts Down Gaza Newspaper, Detains Chief Editor – 24 June 2009

Reporters Without Borders – More Journalists Arrested as a Resule of Tensions Between Palestinian Factions   – 29 May 2009

UNHCR – World Report 2009—Palestinian Territories – 1 May 2009    

Committee to Protect Journalists – Two Journalists Released in West Bank, One Still in Prison – 3 March 2009

CNW Telbec – Palestinian Territories: Arbitrary Detention of Journalists Continues as a Result of Tension Between Hamas and Fatah – 29 August 2008

By Meredith Lee-Clark
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

TEHRAN, Iran – The BBC, Newsweek, and the Washington Times are among several western news organizations that have recently announced that their correspondents in Iran have disappeared or been detained, allegedly as a result of the Iranian government’s crackdown on media freedom.

Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that advocates for freedom of the media, condemned the disappearances, along with the arrests of several Iranian journalists.  The organization also reported that the entire editorial staff of Kalemeh Sabz, a newspaper owned by opposition presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, was arrested by plain clothes agents from the office of Tehran’s prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi.  Mortazavi has previously come under international scrutiny due to implications of torture, illegal detentions, and the coercion of false confessions.

“Iran is in the midst of a violent and arbitrary crackdown on reformist protesters that has already claimed lives and has led to over a thousand arrests,” said Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch.  “The role of Mortazavi in the crackdown suggests that the authorities are preparing to bring trumped-up charges against its opponents.”

Some Iranian reporters have begun to publicly advocate for media freedom.  On June 23, 180 Iranian journalists wrote an open letter to Iran’s government and the public, protesting the “deplorable and critical” state of Iran’s media and calling upon the government to abide by the Iranian constitution and to allow reporters to do their duty.  As of June 25, the Committee to Protect Journalists estimated that approximately forty journalists and media workers had been arrested by the Iranian government since the election on June 12.  One media outlet has declared that Iran is now the world leader in imprisoning journalists.

President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering, said that he planned to visit Iran, on an invitation of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.  Ebadi told Reporters Without Borders that she has urged Pottering and the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, to condemn Iran’s media repression and to investigate human rights abuses against journalists.

For more information, please see:

Committee to Protect Journalists – More Journalists Arrested in Iran; CPJ Seeks Their Release – 25 June 2009

Reporters Without Borders – Confessions, Arrests and a Campaign Against the Media – 25 June 2009

Washington Times – Washington Times Reporter Arrested in Iran – 24 June 2009

Human Rights Watch – Iran: Violent Crackdown on Protestors Widens – 23 June 2009

IFEX – Three More Journalists Detained, BBC Correspondent to be Deported – 22 June 2009

By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

ALGIERS, Algeria–  On June 23, five parliamentary police were killed by insurgents, and two more were kidnapped in the Khenchela province of Algeria. This attack follows the June 19 ambush, which killed eighteen officers and one civilian. Additionally, the attack this month follows the murder of British hostage Edwin Dyer, and the killing of five paramilitary gendarmes and the shooting of nine Algerian soldiers.

“AQIM,” or al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has claimed responsibility for the attacks in early June, and the large ambush on June 19. This group is an independent group of Islamic militants that waged a civil war against the Algerian government in the 1990s, which killed well over 100,000 civilians. In 2006 the group joined Osama Bin Laden’s terrorist organization under the name al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

AQIM regularly targets government forces, though the number of  attacks in the past month have significantly increased  from the past few years. Before the June 19 attack, the Algerian ruling elite had been discussing a plan to reduce violence by granting amnesty to some al Qaeda militants. The plan would have extended the offer of amnesty to higher officials. Algeria was basing the plan off of a similar plan that was used in Saudi Arabia to end a three year insurgency there by al Qaeda.

Farouk Ksentini, the President of the National Advisory Commission for the Promotion of Human Rights in Algeria, stated that general amnesty would be a good way to reduce the recent violence, in an interview before the June 19 attack. However, this theory was not welcomed among some Algerians, who would prefer the militants to go to trial and be judged for their actions.  Even in Saudi Arabia, the rate of recidivism for those granted amnesty is high.

Presently, it appears as though Algeria is not focused on a plan for granting amnesty.  On June 23, following the most recent ambush, Algeria deployed 10,000 soldiers to hunt for the perpetrators of the June 19 attack. The troops have reportedly recovered many weapons, and have arrested several people.

For more information, please see:

Media Line- Algeria Deploys 10,000 Soldiers to Hunt Al-Qa’ida Bombers – 23 June 2009

Reuters- Algerian Insurgents Kill Five Police: Reports– 23 June 2009

AFP – Al-Qaeda Claims Algerian Ambush: SITE – 21 June 2009

Dallas Morning News-  19 Die as Militants Ambush Algerian Police Convoy – 19 June 2009

AP –  Militants Kill at Least 19 in Algeria – 18 June 2009

Reuters- ANALYSIS-Algeria Mulls New Amnesty to Weaken al Qaeda– 17 June 2009