Moroccan Prince Criticizes Journalist’s Arrest, Calls for Free Speech Protections

"The availability of the necessary legal arsenal to protect national institutions is one thing, and the continued use of this arsenal to undermine public debate on concerns that can only be addressed through debate in a free society, is another," he writes.

For Prince Moulay Hicham, issues related to human development and economic growth "cannot be addressed in depth and seriously without clear guarantees that freedom of expression and publication, and other human rights, will remain protected by the Constitution". For him "whoever thinks that restricting these freedoms is justified, in the service of the royal institution, is mistaken".

It is clear to him that if "national institutions are criticized by ordinary citizens, it is due to the absence of strong and credible intermediary institutions through which each can pour out his frustrations and anxieties for the establishment of a frank and sincere dialogue".

The king’s cousin Mohammed VI felt that "the right to individual expression is the last thing a citizen possesses and which is a means of expression and participation and is a right guaranteed by the constitution".