3. Kingdom of Morocco
31.62 million people
98.7% Muslim, 1.1% Christian
Capital is Rabat, largest city is Casablanca
King: Mohammed VI
Prime Minister: AbdelilahBenkirane
Arabic is the official language
52.3% of citizen are literate
Morocco is slightly larger than California
Located in North Africa & separated by water
below Spain
4. Morocco’s History
1860: Morocco partially occupied by Spain.
1912: Treaty of Fez; Morocco under French
protection.
1956: Morocco gains independence from Spain
& France, but later Spain regains some territories.
1975: Under King Hassan Moroccans regain
territories from Spain.
1991: Hassan dies, son, Mohammed VI comes
into power. He promises to work on human-rights.
2011: Protests occur in major cities, calling for a
new constitution and limitations on the King’s
power.
5. Morocco: Not Free
Freedom Press rates Morocco as not
free, with 68 points out of 100 on the
scale.
Their constitution guarantees freedom of
expression.
Libel cases control much of the critical
journalism in Morocco.
6. Government has the power to revoke publication
licenses, suspend newspapers, and confiscate
editions seen as threatening to public order.
Journalists are vulnerable to lawsuits under press laws
if they offend the king, defame the monarchy, insult
Islam or state institutions.
Columnists face even more vulnerability & danger
for their opinions
Only 32% of the population regularly accessed the
Internet in 2009.
7. RachidNini, a popular Moroccan columnist, is
behind bars for “gravely offending” public officials
& disparaging the courts even though the
country’s new constitution enables freedom of
expression. – Human Rights Watch
8. Morocco’s Menassat News
Organization
Al-Massa had $420,000 fines against it
from the government that ruined the
news business.
Moroccan authorities have been
cracking down on individual journalists.
Many citizens & journalist express a need
for a fair judiciary body specialized in
press & media.
9. The govt. bans some journalists from practicing their
profession, issues exorbitant fines in defamation
cases, arrests journalists and imprisons them, bans
newspapers and magazines, and destroys
publications outside the law, while asking the
publication houses to control what they print.
The Moroccan press feel they are being targeted
and feel the need to support eachother under such
pressures.
10. Morocco World News & Las
Vegas Sun
Authorities withdrew the press accreditation of
Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist Omar
Brouksy over his coverage of legislative by-
elections in Tangier on Oct. 5th.
The govt. claimed the story was unprofessional &
there were allegations about the monarchy in
the upcoming elections.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) described the
decision as “political,” saying it was “clearly an
interference in the independent practice of
journalism.”
11. Morocco’s govt. does not allow freedom of
expression for journalists &will use all of their
power & force to make sure a story doesn’t run if
it tells the facts they don’t want the public to see.
"The communications minister uses the
withdrawal of accreditation as a weapon
against the information professionals to force
them to self-censor.” – RSF
Brouksy was attacked & beaten by police in
August while covering a small protest against the
king's annual ceremony of allegiance& used to
be the editor-in-chief of a newspaper that was
weekly shut down by the state.
