Moroccan Activist Maâti Monjib Launches Hunger Strike Over Travel Ban

This time, the hunger strike will last 48 hours for Maati Monjib. The 61-year-old historian has resumed this extreme measure after being turned away by agents at Rabat-Salé airport as he was about to board a plane for Spain to participate in a cultural event.

Prosecuted since 2015 for "fraud" and "undermining state security," Maâti Monjib’s latest conviction was in January 2021. The historian had been sentenced to 12 months in prison and a fine of 10,000 dirhams by the court of first instance in Rabat.

He had started a hunger strike in March 2021, during which his health had deteriorated significantly, prompting a wave of support from human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Reporters Without Borders. He was released after about twenty days of hunger strike.

In addition to accusations of "fraud" and "undermining state security," "money laundering," Maâti Monjib is also suspected of "mismanagement in the management of a center he had created to promote investigative journalism." Accusations he has always rejected, claiming that these are prosecutions aimed at sanctioning him for his outspoken positions on the repression of opponents in Morocco.