Moroccan Ruling Party Sues Journalist Over Facebook Post, Sparking Press Freedom Debate

The journalist is being prosecuted for a post made last month on her Facebook page. "How can the current president of the Guelmim-Oued Noun region, M’Barka Bouaida, accept to vote during the presidency of the regional council when her colleague Abdelouahab Belfkih, former regional candidate of the PAM in the election, was dying," Hanane Bakour had posted.

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"The RNI has chosen to make me the first citizen and the first woman journalist in its ’reeducation of Moroccans’ journey," the journalist reacted on her Facebook page. And she added: "I expressed positions that do not affect any party or person, neither by insult nor by defamation. No one has the right to deny us the right to express ourselves under any pretext whatsoever. I will defend the right to speak and express myself."