By Ann Flower Seyse
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
RABAT, Morocco – A poll published in two Moroccan magazines on King Mohammed VI’s ten years in power has resulted in a ban on the two magazines for this month’s issue.
The poll was conducted by the French daily Le Monde, and asked what 1,108 people thought of their 46-year-old leader during his time in office, and what kind of a job King Mohammed was doing.
The Independent weeklies Tel Quel in French, and Nichane in Arabic, had their most recent issues banned for failing to follow the 1958 press code. The 1958 Press code gives the Minister of the Ministry of Information permission to administratively seize a newspaper or periodical that “is of a nature to disturb public order” and can suspend periodicals that “attacks the political and religions institutional foundations of the kingdom.”
Moroccan minister of communications Khalid Nariri told the associated press that “any publication, be it foreign or Moroccan, that publishes the poll in Morocco will be banned.” Additionally, Nariri announced that “Monarchy cannot be the subject of opinion polls, and those who practice this sport are aware of the consequences.”
Both the Tel Quel and the Nichane have a history with censorship and the Moroccan Government. Both were seized in 2007 for publishing editorials that were deemed “bellow stoking.” Additionally, Nichane’s former editor also received a three-year jail sentence for an article that was found to be defamatory to Islam.
Although the poll showed that most Moroccans were please with their ruler, the government maintains its decision to ban the magazines. According to the poll, ninety-one percent of those surveyed said that they had a positive opinion of their King. The issue that Moroccans were most unhappy about was a lack of improvement of Morocco’s poverty.
Some people polled also expressed a dislike for the Moudawana bill, which granted many marital rights to women.
A blogger that blogs for the Media Line under the psudonym Labri, says that freedom of the press is protected in Morocco, so long as the as the article does not touch on Islam, the Sahara, or the Monarchy.
The magazines that have published the poll are only banned for the issues that contain the poll.
For more information, please see:
AFP – Moroccans Like Their King: Banned Opinion Poll – 3 August 2009
Al Arabiya – Banned Survey Shows Moroccans Like Their King – 3 August 2009
The Media Line – Two Moroccan Magazines Banned over Commemorative Poll – 2 August 2009
News Day – 2 Moroccan Magazines Banned for Poll on King – 2 August 2009
