Moroccan Journalist Omar Radi’s Espionage Trial Delayed Amid Defense Claims of Irregularities

In preventive detention for ten months, the 34-year-old journalist, with a very critical tone, is being prosecuted for "rape" and "undermining the internal security of the State", with "foreign financing", two separate cases, investigated and tried jointly. On Tuesday, at the Casablanca Court of Appeal, the hearing lasted more than four hours, during which Radi’s defense evoked "illegal wiretaps", "interrogations without solid basis", but also the "arbitrary detention" of the journalist.

The lawyers pointed out the "illegality" of the approach of the judicial police requesting the wiretapping of Radi. This request, which dates back to late December 2017 and lasted eight months, is dismissed because it "does not mention his name, nor does it detail the specific accusations against him". This also applies to the "people with whom he would have had relations that fall under espionage", according to his lawyer, Me Mohamed Messaoudi, demanding the presence at the bar of all the people and organizations mentioned in the reports.

Furthermore, notes Me Messaoudi, the police "did not respect" the procedure "by omitting to notify all his rights" to his client during the "marathon" interrogations that preceded his arrest in July 2020, stating that the only sin that is worth Radi’s pre-trial detention is "in his opinions and his investigations". Regarding the provisional release refused on several occasions, the judge’s decision is expected this Thursday.

This same Thursday will resume the trial of another journalist, Soulaimane Raissouni, 48, who has been in pre-trial detention for a year and on a hunger strike for 62 days. He is being prosecuted for "sexual assault". The supporters of the two journalists, who have always claimed their innocence, denounce "political trials", which the authorities reject, citing the independence of the judiciary and the compliance of the procedures.

In the kingdom as internationally, the case of the two journalists is a concern. Several Moroccan political formations have called for "appeasement", and two petitions have been signed by hundreds of Moroccan personalities, including former ministers, intellectuals and journalists.