Freedom of the Press 2008 - Morocco

Status: Not Free
Legal Environment: 24 (of 30)
Political Environment: 23 (of 40)
Economic Environment: 17 (of 30)
Total Score: 64 (of 100)
(Lower scores = freer)

The past year witnessed an even further decline in the state of press freedom in Morocco, despite the country's efforts to promote itself as a modernizing Muslim state. While the Moroccan constitution guarantees freedom of expression, the Press Law prohibits criticism of the monarchy and Islam and effectively bars material challenging the government's position on the status of Western Sahara. Journalists who cross long established red lines or violate press laws are subject to heavy fines and lengthy prison sentences of up to five years. While the government no longer imprisons journalists as often as in the past, it now employs an array of economic pressures such as stiff punitive fines and subtler forms of legal harassment to punish and threaten independent and opposition journalists into practicing self-censorship. After years of promising an updated and more liberal press law, King Mohammed VI finally introduced a draft press law in 2007. However, the king's proposed press law retained many of the restrictive penalties journalists suffered under the old press code and increased fines tenfold. The draft press law was still pending at year's end.

According to government statistics, 26 complaints were filed against the press in 2007. On January 15, a Moroccan court sentenced director and editor Driss Ksikes and journalist Sanaa Al Aji from the independent weekly Nichane to suspended prison sentences of three years and one year respectively, and a fine of approximately US$10,400 for the publication of an article considered offensive to Islam that analyzed popular Moroccan jokes. That same month, in a major blow to independent journalism, Aboubakr Jamai, one of the deans of Morocco's independent press corps, left the country to avoid government seizure of his assets and closure of his weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire. Jamai's departure stemmed from a 2006 court decision that found him guilty of the defamation of the head of a Belgian think tank to whom he was ordered to pay over $300,000. Speculation that the record high penalty was politically motivated stemmed from the nature of Jamai's publications, which for years were unrelenting in their reporting on government corruption at all levels. Prior to the parliamentary elections in the fall, authorities seized copies of Nichane and its sister publication TelQuel after TelQuel published an editorial critical of the election process and the king's role in government. The editor of the publication also faced criminal charges. The publisher of Al Watan, Abderrahim Ariri, and journalist Mustapha Hormatallah, were arrested in July for the publication of an article revealing information from a confidential military document. Both received prison sentences in August for not revealing journalistic sources.

Morocco is home to a large number of private print publications, many of them critical of the government. Seventeen dailies and 90 weekly publications were in circulation in addition to six online news sites. Circulation is limited though, and most papers receive some government subsidies from the Ministry of Communication. The government has the power to revoke licenses and suspend or confiscate publications. Broadcast media that report the news are still dominated by the state, but residents can access critical reports through pan-Arab satellite channels. Francophone Moroccans can also access French-language broadcasts that provide alternative viewpoints. Foreign journalists can work with relative freedom in Morocco, but authorities are as sensitive with the foreign press as they are with local journalists when it comes to covering the issue of Western Sahara. The internet also served as an alternate source of news and perspectives for many Moroccans. There were six online news sites, including three in French, two in Arabic, and one in English. No official legislation exists to regulate internet content or access, although the government occasionally blocks certain websites. Slightly over 18 percent of the population accessed the internet in 2007.