Moroccan Human Rights Group Calls for Release of Journalist Amid Torture Allegations

The charges against the journalist Hajar Raïssouni have turned "into an indictment for those who ordered it, because they were declared by force, without the consent of Hajar Raïssouni", denounces the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH). For it, the journalist has been the victim of "unjust" legal provisions.

The Association recalled that Raïssouni had stated that she had "been subjected to degrading and humiliating practices, criminalized by law, by the two doctors assigned by the police, with the blessing of the Attorney General".

According to the AMDH, the trial did not meet the conditions and guarantees of a fair trial and the presumption of innocence. Worse, "the verdicts are contrary to the law and to reality [...] and the arguments put forward during the trial refute all the allegations of the initial accusation", noted the Association.

It also described this trial as a "mobilization of the judicial power to intimidate and retaliate against journalists who are not loyal to it".

Based on these findings, the AMDH chaired by Aziz Ghali demands the "immediate release" as well as of all those convicted in the context of the trial.

It also calls for an investigation into this "illegal abortion" case which, according to it, constitutes "flagrant violations of the rights" of the persons involved.

On September 30, journalist Hajar Raïssouni and her Sudanese fiancé were sentenced to one year in prison.