Former Moroccan Minister Denied Release in Contempt Case

The former Rabat Bar Association president Mohamed Ziane will not be released. This is the decision of the justice system. "We learned on Tuesday from the court registry that the request for release was denied," said his son, the lawyer Ali Reda Ziane, to the media. "But we continue to assert that the procedure for summoning him to appear before the court was not respected, which results in the nullity of the decision to incarcerate him."

Prosecuted under a complaint from the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior, on eleven counts, including "contempt of public officials and the judiciary" and "insult against a constituted body", Mohamed Ziane had received on appeal on February 23 a sentence of three years in prison and a fine of 5,000 DH. He was arrested and then incarcerated on November 21.