Moroccan Journalist Hajar Raïssouni Named Among World’s Most Persecuted by Press Freedom Group

After a demonstration of support for the young woman in front of the Parliament on October 2, it is the turn of the "One free press coalition", which brings together editors and editors of major international media, to establish a ranking according to which the arrest of the journalist is linked "to her work as a reporter for the independent news site Akhbar al-Youm".

The ranking of "One free press coalition" makes the Moroccan Hajar Raïssouni one of the 10 most persecuted journalists in the world. According to HuffPost, the Coalition believes that the conditions under which the journalist was arrested, her extended custody and her conviction are only pretexts and remain proof that this case is related to the young woman’s profession.

"One free press coalition", according to the media, supports threatened journalists who have sought the truth. In tenth place in its ranking, Hajar Raïssouni is the only woman to join nine other persecuted journalists in the world.

Saudi Jamal Khashoggi, assassinated in October 2018, occupies the first place in the ranking. We also find Afgan Mukhtarli, a diabetic journalist on hunger strike in an Azerbaijani prison and the Iranian Marzieh Amiri, imprisoned for covering the May 1 demonstrations of the Tehran-based newspaper "while suffering from epilepsy and his health deteriorating".

Also featured in this ranking are American Austin Tice, detained in a Syrian prison for seven years "after reporting on the civil war during the escalation of the conflict in the country" and the Al Jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein, imprisoned for three years "on charges of false information and acts against the State", following a documentary made for his television channel on the elections in Egypt.

But, according to the Moroccan authorities, the "Hajar Raïssouni case" would have nothing political. The Prosecutor of the King near the Court of First Instance of Rabat had denied the political nature of this case and stressed that this arrest had "nothing to do with her profession".