Moroccan Journalist Hajar Raissouni Reveals Moment of Royal Pardon in Prison

It was on her Facebook account that the young woman looked back on the moment she learned that she would not serve a year in prison: "It was 5:30 pm, she writes. I was reading while the other prisoners, tired after the day’s visits, were religiously following a series on 2M. Suddenly, I heard one of the women calling me from the cell next door. I wasn’t in the mood to answer. Moreover, I never speak to prisoners through the bars because it was forbidden. She finally announced to me that the king had pardoned me."

Thinking it was a good joke from the latter, she did not pay much attention to it. "I didn’t believe it. She asked me to watch Médi1 tv which, according to her, had just announced it. Turning on the channel, I discovered that it was a program paying tribute to Raissouni, a gynecologist-obstetrician. I went back to my place, thinking it was a mistake."

She thus returns to her reading, with a pang in her heart. "A few minutes later, the prisoners started shouting and congratulating me. I didn’t understand anything. The channel finally announced that the royal pardon had been granted to me, as well as to my fiancé and the medical staff," she said, she who had "lost hope in justice".

Journalist Hajar Raissouni had been prosecuted for "sexual relations outside of marriage" and "illegal abortion". Despite the demonstrations and calls for respect for individual freedoms, she had been sentenced by the Court of First Instance in Rabat to one year in prison with a fine of 500 dirhams. Her fiancé, of Sudanese nationality, had received the same sentence.

As for the doctor prosecuted for having performed the abortion, he had been sentenced to two years in prison with a ban on practicing for 24 months. His secretary, for her part, received 8 months in prison with a suspended sentence.