Moroccan Journalist Jailed Over Tweet Criticizing Court Ruling

The journalist had been heard earlier on Thursday by the judicial police who referred him to the prosecutor, according to his lawyer, Said Benhammani. According to his counsel, the Prosecutor had then decided to place him in detention and his trial began shortly afterwards in the evening.

Pleading for the cause of their client, the lawyers of the journalist Omar Radi requested his provisional release during the first hearing before the court of first instance of Casablanca. Their request was rejected by the court. The date of the next hearing is scheduled for January 2.

According to his lawyer, Omar Radi, 33, is being tried under Article 263 of the Penal Code, which punishes "contempt of a magistrate" with one month to one year in prison. His client is being prosecuted for a tweet published in April criticizing the verdict of a magistrate against members of the Hirak, a social protest movement that shook northern Morocco in 2016 and 2017, said Said Benhammani.

The arrest of the journalist Omar Radi has sparked a wave of outrage on social media, and has been condemned by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) which recently ranked Morocco 135th out of 180 countries.