Moroccan Journalist’s Arrest Sparks Debate on Press Freedom and Abortion Laws

The Rabat Prosecutor’s Office assured that the journalist’s arrest had "nothing to do" with her profession. But, according to the words collected by Le Monde Afrique from the lawyers and entourage of the young woman, there is no doubt that she was indeed targeted.

According to the newspaper, Hajar Raïssouni has the particularity of being the niece of two men known and little appreciated by the Moroccan power. Le Monde Afrique reports that to close relatives who visited her in the Al Arjat prison, near Salé, Hajar Raïssouni declared: "I am going towards my destiny with a broken heart and my head held high".

The offenses for which the young journalist appeared on Monday, September 23, are punishable by imprisonment, according to the Moroccan Penal Code.

While provisional release has been denied her twice, human rights activists and other sympathizers cry out for the violation of basic human rights.

This is the case of Souleymane Raïssouni who recalled that the arrest of his niece is an opportunity to denounce repressive laws, particularly for women, and the methods of a "repressive power" that uses these texts to carry out arbitrary arrests.

The newspaper writes that on her Facebook page, the journalist regularly posted very literary short texts in which she expressed her opinions on Moroccan current affairs. Texts that showed a young woman who refused to compromise with the social heaviness and hypocrisy in which her elders have become bogged down.

Since the beginning of this case, many people are surprised that a simple young woman who believes in her religion is so persecuted. For some, like Salwa, a journalist and friend of the young woman, Hajar has never spoken out against abortion and being the niece of Ahmed Raïssouni, whom she respects greatly, does not make her an Islamist.

In recent months, according to words collected from her relatives by the newspaper, she was more worried. She said she was tired of feeling under surveillance. Three months before her arrest, she confided: "If something happens to me, it will be related to my uncles."