Moroccan Activists to Protest Journalist’s Imprisonment in Rabat

Several associations including the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) have called for a sit-in on Wednesday, October 2nd from 5:30 pm in Rabat, in front of the Parliament, to express their disapproval of the verdict of the "Hajar Raïssouni" trial.

The journalist and her fiancé were sentenced to one year in prison. As for her doctor, he was sentenced to two years in prison.

It is an unfair trial where heavy sentences were pronounced against the accused in the "Hajar Raïssouni" case, denounce the associations, in a joint statement.

The signatories demand not only "an independent judiciary that respects rights and freedoms", but they also demand "the repeal of obsolete laws that have been used against Hajar and her co-defendants and that violate the right to individual freedoms guaranteed by international human rights law".

Similarly, a petition has been launched to urge "the Moroccan public authorities to stop these sordid prosecutions [...] and to legislate to guarantee the fundamental rights of women as well as freedom of opinion in the Kingdom", the statement said.