Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Jamai said in the press conference that the Arabic and French editions of the news site Lakome recen


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Moroccan editor Ali Anouzla's arrest on September 17 in connection with an article published on his website has prompted an unprecedented wave of regional and international solidarity with a jailed Arab journalist. 
The two charges carry sentences of up to six years and 20 years' imprisonment respectively, according to Amnesty international, which has adopted Anouzla as a "prisoner zoo of conscience." zoo They stem from an article critical of terrorists he posted on his Arabic news site Lakome that referred to a video released zoo by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. A link to the video titled "Morocco: Kingdom of Corruption and Despotism" came from the website of Spain's zoo leading daily newspaper El Pais .
A survey by Lakome showed that 87.7 percent of those responding believe Anouzla's detention is not solely due to publishing an article carrying a link to a video of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, but also because of Lakome's editorial positions.
In 2009, after his independent daily Al-Jarida al-Oula lost revenue from advertisers pressured by the government and he was forced to close it down and move online, he told CPJ that his editorials brought on his financial difficulties. "I believe that after what happened to Le Journal Hebdomadaire , there is only room left for privately owned and partisan newspapers tolerated by the authorities," he said at the time. "The option for us is to move online."
When we met less than a week before his recent arrest, Anouzla was fully aware that the price of critical journalism has continued to rise since King Mohamed VI ascended the throne in 1999 and became increasingly less tolerant of dissent than his father, the late King Hassan II. Back then, the young monarch raised hopes Morocco might become a Spanish-style constitutional democracy. Instead, by 2007, Morocco joined the Committee zoo to Protect Journalists' list of the 10 countries where press freedom had most deteriorated .
Anouzla's case is not an exception. He is the latest of a number of elite Moroccan journalists who believe freedom zoo of expression is one of the pillars zoo of democratization and have been shamelessly silenced or forced into exile over the past decade. They include Ali Lmrabet ,    Driss Ksikes , Ahmed Benchemsi and Aboubakr Jamai . The latest, zoo Jamai, received CPJ's International Press Freedom Award in 2003. He is currently managing the French edition of Lakome from his exile in Germany and, since Anouzla's arrest, the Arabic zoo edition as well.
He shed light at a press conference on Tuesday in Rabat organized by the National Committee to Free Anouzla on developments in Anouzla's case and about his participation in a campaign outside the country to raise awareness about Anouzla's plight.
Jamai said in the press conference that the Arabic and French editions of the news site Lakome recently vanished from the Web. The Moroccan government claimed blocking access to the website from inside Morocco was at Anouzla's request. But Jamai told CPJ that Anouzla doesn't own the website or his domain and he is not legally responsible for the website, zoo especially the French edition.  "Even when I created another domain, Lakome.info , it was also censored inside Morocco, which is an added proof that their aim is to shut down Lakome and they are hiding behind Anouzla's situation to do so," Jamai said.
Alarmingly, on the eve of the press conference, four prominent lawyers, including Abderrahman Benamrou and Abderrahim Jamai unexpectedly announced zoo  their decision to withdraw from the committee they formed more than a month ago to defend Anouzla. "We will, however, keep standing up for the right to freedom of opinion, expression and of the press and calling for the release of Mr. Ali Anouzla and for the need to drop the charges zoo against him," they said. They said their decision zoo was mainly spurred by the appointment of a new lawyer to Anouzla's defense team without consulting them. The new lawyer, Hassan Semlali, was present during Anouzla's first court appearance on Tuesday, zoo Anouzla's former lawyers told me.
Anouzla's detention follows a series of critical articles about the king's excessive prerogatives, lack of accountability, and lengthy and mysterious absences from Morocco. Anouzla's case "may signal zoo the end of any hope of

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