Le Journal Hebdomadaire is the latest in a string of publications fined under Morocco’s press code. In the last 12 months, four weeklies or their journalists have been condemned to pay heavy fines or to prison sentences. report by Magali Brutel for Index on Censorship

 Sarah Leah Whitson, director for the Middle East and North Africa at Human Rights Watch, said: “These recent prosecutions show how the authorities use the press code to restrict freedom of expression, especially on issues like the monarchy and the Western Sahara. This series of suspended prison sentences and heavy defamation awards will have a chilling effect on the independent press.”
       If there is one subject that Morocco is really sensitive about, it is the Western Sahara. And the Moroccan authorities often use strong measures to discourage coverage of the Polisario front, a rebel movement that fights for the independence of the Western Sahara and related subjects.
     In February 2006, Le Journal Hebdomadaire was condemned to pay a record fine of 3 million dirham (about 300,000 euros) in a defamation suit brought by Claude Moniquet, the director of ESISC (European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center), a Belgian-based think tank.
       In its 8 December 2005 edition, the magazine raised concerns about the objectivity of a report on the Western Sahara and the Polisario published by ESISC. It was critical of the report backed by two experts, Bernabé Lopez-Garcia and Khadija Mohsen-Finan.

“A politically motivated judgment”
Claude Moniquet claimed that Le Journal Hebdomadaire defamed him and his institute when it said that the report reflected the official views of the Moroccan government and might have been financed by the Moroccan authorities. Le Journal Hebdomadaire offered a right of reply but Moniquet never used it. An appointment with Le Journal Hebdomadaire was arranged at the end of December 2005. Moniquet’s lawyer called at the last minute to cancel the meeting. In fact, he had already brought the case to court.
      Committee to Protect Journalists’ (CPJ) executive director Ann Cooper said, “This unfair trial fuels our suspicions that this is a politically motivated judgment. Such punitive damages seem intended to put Le Journal Hebdomadaire out of business and rob the Moroccan public of an independent voice.”
      Ali Amar, Le Journal´s editor, in an interview with Index on Censorship on 11 July, added: “Claude Moniquet brought the case to a Moroccan court, not in Belgium where the institute is based or in France where the weekly is sold. His lawyer is a former minister and now a leader of a nationalist party.  During the trial, his lawyer said that we have to be judged because we are not patriotic.”

Furore over magazine’s reporting of the cartoon scandal 
On the eve of the judgment, on 14 February 2006, Le Journal Hebdomadaire came under further pressure. A demonstration, seen left (credit: Le Journal Hebdomadaire) with the support of the Moroccan authorities, took place in front of the weekly magazine´s headquarters; the crowd protested against “the publication of the cartoons of the prophet ”. The weekly had published an Agence France-Presse picture of a reader holding the edition of the Parisian daily France-Soir that reproduced the now imfamous Danish cartoons of the prophet. The photograph was used to illustrate the chronology of events in a 10-page report, “The Prophet Mohammed: the symbol, the passions”, in which opinions were given by experts on Islamic politics and religious imagery. The picture was reduced to its minimum size and, to avoid any controversy, was darkened. Despite those precautions, two state-owned channels disproportionately covered the “event” that made the magazine look guilty of a lack of respect for Islam and the Moroccan people. “The involvement of the Moroccan authorities in these protests is an outrage,” Cooper said. “We demand officials halt these dangerous provocations at once.” Ali Amar gave his view: “The demonstration was organized to prepare the public opinion to condemn us as a non-patriotic publication”.
       The three million-dirham fine was confirmed on appeal on 18 April 2006. The trial was described as a masquerade. Reporters Without Borders said, “A representative of our organisation attended the trial and saw how the rights of the defence were not respected, especially when defence witnesses were cross-examined.” 
        Abderrahim Jamai, the weekly’s lawyer, expected the verdict because “the courts do not respect legal principles and every kind of excess is tolerated”. The two journalists and their lawyers were not in court when the ruling was issued.
 
Possible closure
“The amount of the fine is huge”, said Ali Amar. “The aim is really to silence a weekly and not to rehabilitate Claude Moniquet”s work as he asked when he brought the case to court.”
      If Le Journal Hebdomadaire is forced to pay the fine, it may have to close. Moniquet can request at any time that the Judge’s verdict be carried out. “Some individuals and organisations offered to help us. Le Journal Hebdomadaire wants to stay independent and it cannot accept any money”, said Ali Amar. “We will continue to work as usual. We have the support of the international press and international NGOs.


For further reports see:

Le Journal Hebdomadaire
RSF
CPJ
Human Rights Watch
Observatoire pour la liberté de presse, d´édition et de création en Tunisie