Three stories, three paths and three intersecting fates, all similar with one ending; this is the story of three of the most prominent journalists in Morocco in the last decade, who were the last wave of independent journalists in the country during the past twenty years.

This article was originally published in Hawamich in Arabic on 23 February 2023 as part of a project by the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, as part of a project to investigate impunity for crimes committed against journalists in the Middle East and North Africa. It has also been published in Spanish in El Público.

On the evening of Friday, 23 February 2018, the newsroom of Akhbar Al-Yaoum newspaper, the last independent newspaper in Morocco, was almost empty. Most journalists had left after finishing the weekend’s painstaking issue. Inside the editor-in-chief’s office, the light was still on. Taoufik Bouachrine, the newspaper’s founder and publishing director, was always the last person to leave the office. As he organized his papers and arranged the following week’s appointments, a bunch of strangers stormed into the place. They were nothing but a “battalion” of police officers from different departments and ranks, headed by the Judicial Police. They cordoned off the newspaper’s headquarters, took over the elevators and closed the entrance to Habous Quarter in the heart of Casablanca. Akhbar Al-Yaoum described the incident as an abrupt and intensive security takedown carried out by forty security and domestic intelligence officers to arrest Bouachrine.

The same scenario would play out again four years later with the editor-in-chief of the same newspaper, who took over after Taoufik Bouachrine’s arrest. Soulaimane Raissouni, the journalist who was famous for his lengthy discussions with Moroccan politicians and the straightforward language of his editorials, had been editor-in-chief of the “provocative newspaper” for two years amidst a difficult economic situation after the newspaper’s advertisements and public support were cut off. At the time, Soulaimane was thinking of jumping ship. His decision was not driven by a desire to escape responsibility or by the challenging financial situation; rather, he hoped to give Akhbar Al-Yaoum the opportunity of a new life if his name and brutal editorials were ever to disappear from its front pages. However, when he parked his car in front of his house on 22 May 2020, the expected happened. The same bunch of strangers, this time a “battalion” of 15 members of the Judicial Police and police officers in civilian clothing, closed in on the place and blocked the alleys. They had been ordered to arrest Raissouni.

On the other hand, Omar Radi, the independent journalist, made it difficult for them to arrest him at the newspaper. He was like a migratory bird, not fond of being confined to a newsroom that restricted his freedom, nor to an editorial line that curb his boldness. Radi did not merely practice journalism as a profession. He was passionate about it, the same way he was about the music he regularly played to himself and his friends, for it is in them both that he found pleasure, comfort and joy. Radi’s smile never left his face, and he frequently laughed off the idea of being arrested because of his writings and ideas.

Just as rare birds are lured into a trap, Radi was gradually lured through marathon interrogations to which he was subjected by the National Brigade of the Judicial Police for his journalistic work, and his cellphone was hacked using the Israeli spyware Pegasus. He was subsequently prosecuted for a plethora of charges, including “undermining state security,” “communicating with agents of a foreign state” and “rape.”

Omar Radi, Soulaimane Raissouni, Taoufik Bouachrine

Three stories, three paths and three intersecting fates of three top journalists in Morocco in the last decade, who all had similar stories and faced the same ending. They were the last wave of independent journalists in Morocco during the past twenty years, before their circumstances got the better of them. Some were arrested (like Bouachrine, Raissouni and Radi), some were forced into exile, some left the profession of troubles entirely, some chose to remain silent out of caution, and some are just waiting, their determination still as solid as ever.

The three stories laid out in this report intersect and overlap, but they are all connected by the same common thread which can be summarized by the three fundamental questions explored below: Why are criminal charges pressed against independent journalists in Morocco? Who is targeting them? And what is the ultimate purpose of silencing the last independent journalists in Morocco?

Similar Charges, One Outcome

On 25October, 2019, the Casablanca Court of Appeal sentenced journalist Taoufik Bouachrine, founder of independent newspaper Akhbar Al-Yaoum, to 15 years in prison, increasing his sentence of 12 years previously issued by the Court of First Instance in November 2018. The Court also imposed fines and compensation for the women plaintiffs amounting to millions of Moroccan dirhams (two million and 500 thousand dirhams; approximately 250 thousand euros).

On 25 February 2022, the Casablanca Court of Appeal confirmed the judgement issued by the Court of First Instance to imprison journalist Soulaimane Raissouni for five years for “sexually assaulting” a gay man. The case sparked wide interest and triggered demands to release the journalist, who was famous for his bold editorials criticizing the regime and the security apparatus in particular.

On 3 March 2022, the Casablanca Court of Appeal sentenced Moroccan journalist Omar Radi to six years in prison, in two separate cases – “rape” and “espionage” – which were investigated and adjudicated in the same trial, contrary to any judicial reasoning.

The charges against these journalists not only constitute criminal offenses, but they also have an ethical dimension. The entities defending them, whether in Morocco or abroad, confirm that the purpose of these charges is not only to discredit the critical journalists, but also to defame them before Morocco’s largely conservative society and to deprive them of any professional empathy or rights-based support inside and outside Morocco. Above all, supporters of the journalists affirm that the purpose of these sentences is to subject them to “character assassination” through trials by defamatory media outlets, which are accused of being the cronies of the security apparatus, before their court trials begin and definitive ready-made sentences are issued against them. 

Where It All Began

The story behind this report does not really have a definite and specific beginning. The events that we mentioned earlier are nothing more than a series of occurrences in a long history of prosecutions against all the unorthodox and independent voices, and not just the critical ones. Throughout the first decade of this century, Morocco witnessed several cases of suppression against dissidents and prosecution of journalists. However, there were always instances of openness that allowed people to vent, up until 20 February 2011, when Morocco was gripped by widespread protests demanding change, known as “The February 20 Movement,” the Moroccan version of the “Arab Spring.” And yet, it was not long before the regime was able to circumvent the movement’s demands with promises that would prove to be fake over the years.

In fact, the government learned a great deal from the youth-led popular protests that relied on modern communication techniques. With the wave of “counter-revolutions” supported by regimes in the Gulf, Morocco’s regime transitioned from a state of self-defense to a state of attack targeting dissidents and silencing all critical voices, by relying on new and developed tactics outlined by a recent 99-page report issued by Human Rights Watch on 22 July 2022, entitled “They’ll Get You No Matter What.”

The report argues that the repressive tactics used by Moroccan authorities aimed “not only to muzzle individuals or media institutions that the authorities deem troublesome, but also to deter all potential state critics from speaking out.” These tactics include digital and camera surveillance, defamation campaigns in deep-state-aligned media, targeting relatives and, in some cases, intimidation and sexual assault incidents, in which the police would always say that they could not identify the perpetrators, before moving to fabricated trials and unfair sentences of long-term imprisonment for criminal charges that have nothing to do with the freedom of expression.

The Human Rights Watch report covered 12 cases, including the cases examined in this investigation. Leading human rights organizations, such as the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Front Line Defenders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, unanimously agreed that the accusations made in these three cases were fabricated. The same accusations were also strongly criticized in two reports issued by the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention operating under the United Nations Human Rights Council. The first report was issued in the case of Bouachrine in March 2019 and the second in the case of Raissouni in October 2022. Both reports considered the arrest and prosecution of journalists to be arbitrary and illegal and demanded that Moroccan authorities release them immediately and even compensate them for the damages incurred.

Developments during the Drafting of this Report

While preparing this report, one of the contributors was arrested. Mohamed Zayan, President of the Rabat Bar Association and former Human Rights Minister, was arrested on 22 November 2022, after the Rabat Court of Appeal upheld a court ruling to imprison him for three years, following a lawsuit filed against him by the Ministry of Interior.

Zayan, however, believes that he had been targeted, and his defenders affirm that he was not arrested because of these charges, but because of his positions and criticisms, especially the statements he made not long before his arrest, when he began directly criticizing what he described as the “secret structure” that ruled Morocco, in addition to the continuous absence of the King because of his travels that sometimes kept him away from Morocco for several months.

As we were finalizing this report, the European Parliament voted by a majority of its members on 19 January 2023 on a resolution calling upon Moroccan authorities to respect the freedom of expression and press, release arrested journalists, and immediately cease all harassment of journalists, their lawyers, and their families. Previously, Ned Price, Spokesperson for the United States Department of State, had demanded that Soulaimane Raissouni be released and offered reparation.

The European Parliament’s resolution urged Moroccan authorities to respect the freedom of expression and press and provide imprisoned journalists, including Omar Radi, Soulaimane Raissouni and Taoufik Bouachrine, with fair trials, and demanded their immediate release. The decision also exhorted EU member states to cease all export of surveillance technology to Morocco, in line with the EU Regulation on Dual-Use Technology.

The Case of Taoufik Bouachrine… “The Editorials or the Women?”

Taoufik Bouachrine

The tactics outlined in the Human Rights Watch report apply to the cases of all three journalists who are the subject of this investigation. The story began with Taoufik Bouachrine, who is known for his powerful editorials lambasting the state and its undemocratic practices. In fact, when former Islamist Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane was asked about his opinion regarding the arrest of Bouachrine, who was described as being close to “moderate Islamists,” Benkirane said that “Bouachrine was arrested because of his editorials, not because of the women.” He was talking about Bouachrine’s editorials in which he criticized the Royal family’s control over all state authorities and the charges of “harassment, rape and human trafficking” that he was convicted of. This opinion was reiterated by longtime Moroccan journalist Hamid Barrada, who was a senior reporter at Jeune Afrique – a magazine known to be close to Moroccan decision-making circles, and had a weekly program on the 2M official Moroccan channel.

Taoufik Bouachrine’s name was ever-present on the media scene because of Akhbar Al-Yaoum, the newspaper he founded. Under his leadership, it became one of the most widely read, independent, and influential newspapers of the past decade. However, the newspaper was forced to shut down in 2021 due to financial issues related to its owner’s legal troubles. Throughout his journalism career, Bouachrine was known for his moderate voice. However, the transformation began as soon as the moderate Islamic Justice and Development Party took control of the government in 2011. Bouachrine and his newspaper became a platform for the voice of the Party and its former and current leader, Abdelilah Benkirane, who served as Prime Minister from 2011 to 2016.

When the Palace decided to relieve Benkirane of his duty to form the government in 2016, despite his party leading in the elections, and to appoint his First Deputy from the same party, Saadeddine Othmani, as Prime Minister, Bouachrine emerged as one of the staunchest advocates of Benkirane’s retention as Prime Minister, arguing that removing him violated the “democratic system” and went against the principles enshrined in the Moroccan Constitution. He began publishing impassioned editorials that criticized the methodology used by Royal circles in tampering with election results and creating numeric majorities that were not produced by ballot boxes. The most vehement editorial was entitled “Speaking Truth to the King,” in which Bouachrine refers to a conversation between an Iranian scholar who supported the monarchical regime during the reign of the Shah and the Iranian Shah in his last days before he was overthrown. Bouachrine quoted the Iranian scholar, implicitly addressing the Moroccan King: “Your Highness, the technocratic rule that you established around you did not have the means, culture or knowledge to hear the cry of truth from the people; it is what concealed the truth from you.”

When time passed and no one listened to Bouachrine’s truth, he came back with an even stronger editorial entitled “Governing is No Walk on the Beach”. This time, the editorialist was clearly referring to the King of Morocco “who was a big fan of surfing” and addressing him directly when he wrote, “it is not true what Napoleon said, that the throne is just a gold-plated wooden chair… The throne means that you have a responsibility before the people, before history and before God, in a country whose people believe that judgment and punishment are the law, and no one is spared on judgment day.”

Every time Bouachrine escalated the tone of his editorials, the defamation machine would pummel him with defamatory articles that exude resentment and spite against him and his family, published on sites known to be affiliated with the security apparatus, especially what is known in Morocco as the “political police,” in preparation for his takedown. Meanwhile, Bouachrine was unaware that his office was rigged with hidden cameras. It was not known who planted them or when. However, they were the source of recordings that would later be used as “evidence” against him. According to a member of his defense team who spoke to the investigative journalist, only an official body could install these cameras; otherwise, how did the Police find them the first time they raided Bouachrine’s office? Bouachrine would reveal this himself in his pleading in court, confirming that his office was rigged with cameras four years before his arrest.

This tactic of blackmailing dissidents by placing cameras inside their offices or homes was previously used by Moroccan authorities against Moroccan human rights activist Fouad Abdelmoumni. However, when Abdelmoumni received videos that contained intimate footage of him and his partner in their bedroom, he did not succumb to the blackmail attempt. Instead, he exposed the blackmail he was subjected to by the Moroccan “political police” on the British website “The Economist.”

This was how Bouachrine got arrested on 23 February 2018 inside his office. He was accused of serious charges and sentenced to 15 years in prison, of which he has served four years and seven months to date. But were the charges against him true and established?

All the human rights organizations that followed Taoufik Bouachrine’s marathon trial, which lasted for two years, described the trial as “political” and lacking the requirements of a “fair trial”. The strongest reaction came on 23 November 2019 from the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a body of the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Working Group indicated that depriving journalist Taoufik Bouachrine of his freedom was a form of arbitrary detention that breached Articles 9, 14 and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which was ratified by Morocco; and demanded that the Moroccan government release Bouachrine immediately, compensate him for the damages, and give him guarantees that what happened would not be repeated.

The same opinion was reiterated by all the sources contacted by the journalist who conducted this investigation from Bouachrine’s defense team and family members. The people who have been following Bouachrine’s case are also very familiar with it. The irony, however, is that all those who talked to the investigative journalist, with the exception of Bouachrine’s family members, asked not to be identified, including those who were part of his defense team. The “fear” instilled by this particular topic that gripped many, including the legally-immune defense team, stemmed from the fate of the members of Bouachrine’s defense team, which consisted of several lawyers at first and ended up with only four. Two of them told the investigative journalist that they were subjected to pressure and harassment, which led them to stay away from this “incendiary case” as they described it. Meanwhile, two others, including a lawyer who volunteered to follow up on the trial as an observer for Human Rights Watch, faced a cruel act of retribution. The sons of the latter were arrested together in a fabricated case on charges of “selling poisoned masks”; they were medical masks imported on the eve of the spread of COVID-19 in Morocco. The young men were sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in prison. Mohamed Zayan, who was Human Rights Minister during the reign of late King Hassan II in the 1990s, refused to succumb to the blackmail attempt targeting him and received the heavier sentence.

In his conversation with the investigative journalist, Zayan, the only member of Bouachrine’s defense team who agreed to reveal his name and status, indicated that what his client experienced was a form of “revenge” and not a fair sentence, as the aim was to “stifle his voice and instill fear in anyone who would dare to criticize” the authority the way Bouachrine did. When asked who was behind this “revenge,” Zayan answered without hesitation that it was “the political police that has turned Morocco into a Kingdom of Terror.”

Zayan’s courage came at a great price, which he is still paying to this day. His son was arrested for importing “poisonous masks,” a charge which he considered malicious, aimed at twisting the annoying lawyer’s arm. And when he wasn’t deterred, he became the subject of defamation: a fake video of him was produced in order to give the illusion that he was having sexual intercourse with one of his clients. Soon, however, it came to light that the “unethical” video published by a defamatory website affiliated with the Moroccan intelligence was fabricated. The lawyer relied on American expertise to prove it. And when he filed a lawsuit against the website that released the video and then deleted it, the case was dismissed! Zayan has endured constant harassment throughout the past three years. His name was removed from the Bar roll, and he was forced to vacate his office in Rabat. During the preparation of this report, he was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison as a result of a lawsuit filed against him by the Ministry of Interior.

Mohamed Zayan

The term “political police” was also used by Moroccan historian Maati Monjib, who is known for his positions critical of the authorities, in his description of the secret machinery of oppression in Morocco. Because of it, he paid a heavy price when he was arrested for the same ready-made charges that Human Rights Watch report referred to as “tactics.”

In 2015, Monjib was accused of “undermining state security and threatening public security.” In 2020, he was charged with “money-laundering” and “receiving support from abroad.” In the same year, Monjib was imprisoned and then, under the pressure of Moroccan and international human rights defenders, he was released after going on a hunger strike. Since his release, Monjib’s freedom has been restricted, and a travel ban has been imposed on him. He was also laid off from his university job, and his bank account and properties, including his house and cars, were seized. This seizure even targeted some of his family members.

In his statement to the investigative journalist, Monjib, who is still one of the few dissenting voices inside Morocco, affirmed that what happened to him was revenge for his critical positions towards the secret regime structure in Morocco, which he had previously written an article about in Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper in November 2020. In his article, he states that “this structure is semi-secret because most of its members are unknown to the public. It is also unofficial. But it is very effective in terms of manipulating and guiding a large part of the political elite, in addition to exerting pressure, distracting and depleting what we might call the counter-elite.” According to Monjib, who is still the target of daily “defamation articles” on sites affiliated with the same “secret structure” he criticizes, the arrest and prosecution of Taoufik Bouachrine was a clear message to the moderate and reformist opposition that “its voice was no longer bearable, and it is time for it to remain silent.”

Monjib, who is a historian specialized in the modern history of Morocco, said that what Morocco is witnessing today is “worse than what it used to be during the Years of Lead. At least in the 1970s, dissidents would be convicted of political charges for their positions and opinions towards the regime. And despite the terrible oppression that prevailed during those years, political parties dared to oppose, and unions protested in the streets. Today, the regime wants to silence everyone, and this poses a risk to its very existence, given that opposing and critical voices serve as sensors that warn of disasters before they happen.”

Omar Radi’s Case… Stir up the Hornets’ Nest

Omar Radi

Investigative journalist Omar Radi is not only known for his critical voice, which turned him into the “icon” of the “February 20 Movement” youth among his peers; he is also known by his colleagues for his highly professional journalistic reports, which often tackled sensitive and contentious topics that were difficult to approach. Given his economic background and his expertise in the field of digital technology, Radi began to investigate issues related to the economic and digital security fields at an early stage. The last investigation he was working on when he was arrested on 29 July 2020 was about the confiscation of tribal lands by the state and their takeover by parties close to the Royal family. The investigation was recently published after volunteer journalists completed it, and the Forbidden Stories organization adopted it. It was also published by several global newspapers, such as the French Le Monde, the Belgian Le Soir, and the Lebanese Daraj website.

Radi’s story began when he chose to become an independent journalist, separating himself from newsrooms and breaking away from the traditional norms in the Arab region. He chose topics he wanted to talk about himself and began investigating them at his own expense. Once done with an investigation, he would look for a media outlet that he thought would publish his work without any omission or modification.

Radi was like a “private investigator” who carried his laptop and camera on one shoulder and his guitar on the other to play alone in moments of reflection and thought. Radi was never reluctant to take on sensitive issues or to stir up the hornets’ nest. He chose to be an investigative journalist par excellence, to tackle fiery topics, in a country whose rulers governed by fear and intimidation.

Radi was aware that his investigations posed a threat to him. He knew that he was being watched. Nevertheless, the harassment and threats did not stop him from searching for the truth or from speaking out about sensitive topics. In fact, when a Moroccan court issued a harsh sentence against the “Hirak Rif” Movement activists, Radi did not remain silent. He published a tweet in April 2019 criticizing the judge who issued the sentence and calling him an “executioner.” He wrote: “Do not forget and do not forgive those employees who are without honor!”

Lahcen Talfi, juge de la cour d'appel, bourreau de nos frères, souvenons-nous bien de lui. Dans beaucoup de régimes, les petits bras comme lui sont revenus supplier après en prétendant "avoir éxécuté des ordres". Ni oubli ni pardon avec ces fonctionnaires sans dignité ! https://t.co/MlCAqhPlCX

— Omar Radi (@OmarRADI) April 6, 2019

Authorities immediately launched an investigation against him for “insulting the judiciary.” The investigation went on for months, until Radi appeared on 12 December 2019 as a guest on Radio M – an independent radio station run by independent Algerian journalist Ihsane El-Kadi – in the Algerian capital. In a widely-circulated video on social media, Radi spoke fearlessly about the collusion between the powerful and the wealthy in Morocco, whereby the powerful provide a nurturing structure that protects and defends the wealthy at the highest level of the country’s hierarchy.

These statements made by the Moroccan journalist in Algeria through an Algerian media outlet were the straw that broke the camel’s back. The authorities waited for his return from Algeria and decided, after a marathon investigation session, to arrest him on 27 December 2019. A few days after his arrest, Radi was released under pressure from the Moroccan and international public opinion. His freedom, however, remained restricted as the borders were closed in his face and his movement and communications were monitored more strictly than ever, as was disclosed by journalist Imad Stitou, one of Radi’s close friends, who also told the investigative journalist that Radi was closely watched wherever he went. One night, while they were leaving a restaurant in Casablanca together, they noticed a person taking pictures of them. And when they got into an altercation with him, a security vehicle came and arrested them all. It was later revealed that the photographer was a reporter for Chouf TV, one of the most prominent “slander media” outlets in Morocco. According to the same source, it turned out later that the reporter acted in collusion with the Police, who released him and dismissed the case. Le Desk website, the last media platform that Radi worked with, disclosed the details of this case.

Nevertheless, Radi remained under surveillance. In June 2020, Amnesty International and Forbidden Stories revealed that Radi’s phone was hacked using the Israeli spyware Pegasus. The story of how he was being spied on was published by major global media such as the French Le Monde and Forbidden Stories, the British The Guardian, the US New York Times and Washington Post, and the German Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung.

In his statement to Le Monde, Radi commented on being spied on by saying: “The entire country is being watched. We are ruled by a cartel that monitors, spies, fabricates charges, arrests, prosecutes and issues sentences against any opposing voice.” This statement was published on 22 June 2020, and Radi was arrested on 29 July 2020. On 3 March 2022, the Casablanca Court of Appeal sentenced him to six years in prison, in a trial described by a member of his defense team as “absurd” and “surreal.” The same source told the investigative journalist that Radi’s trial did not meet the requirements of a fair trial. This was corroborated by reports issued by Moroccan and international human rights organizations that demanded the release of Radi and the dismissal of all charges.

Soulaimane Raissouni… The Indictment: An Anonymous Post!

Soulaimane Raissouni

When defamatory press pieces against Soulaimane Raissouni, who was editor-in-chief of Akhbar Al-Yaoum at the time, escalated, he got into an altercation with his rivals. And when they failed to stop him from continuing to publish his pungent editorials, a decision was taken to arrest him. A squad of 15 security officers in civilian clothes arrested him on 22 May 2020 because of an anonymous post, in which the writer claimed that Raissouni (a well-known person) sexually assaulted them. As a result, a moral case was filed against Raissouni beyond his political positions. After two years of marathon sessions, Raissouni was sentenced to five years in prison, having been convicted of “sexual assault” against a gay man.

Raissouni’s story did not begin with this post, which was simply the reason – or the ploy – to arrest and convict him in order to silence him. Raissouni was one of the most prominent Moroccan journalists, and he was known for his boldness and his articles which criticized the authorities. He adopted leftist ideals from a young age despite the fact that his older brother was Ahmad Raissouni, the former President of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, before resigning at the end of the summer.

Besides his work in journalism, Soulaimane Raissouni was an activist in the human rights movement in Morocco and a member of all the bodies that stood in solidarity with independent journalists who were being harassed or arrested during the last ten years, at the forefront of which was his friend Taoufik Bouachrine (Raissouni was the coordinator of the committee formed in solidarity with Bouachrine).

Raissouni, who worked for several Moroccan media outlets, had decided to quit journalism to make time for his writing, according to his wife, but the arrest of his friend and colleague Taoufik Bouachrine, the founder of Akhbar Al-Yaoum, changed his mind. He was the first to join Bouachrine’s support group. Raissouni also joined the newspaper and became its editor-in-chief after the arrest of its founder in order to continue its publication. He worked for two years under difficult circumstances that were the result of Bouachrine’s arrest and marathon trials, as well as the harassment and pressure exerted on the newspaper and its journalistic team. But Raissouni was able to turn the newspaper into a unique voice characterized by its independence and boldness. His daring and critical editorials gave the newspaper a strong boost but also dragged it into trouble. Raissouni ended up being arrested due to a complaint made by a man who accused him of “sexual assault.” Raissouni and his defense team kept denying the accusations, but the newspaper ended up being shut down.

Those who followed Raissouni’s hearings, including Moroccan and international human rights organizations, such as the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, reported several violations related to the plaintiff’s statements, the court’s refusal to bring the witnesses that Raissouni’s defense requested, and the weak evidence presented by the plaintiff’s team. Consequently, Raissouni’s defense team issued a statement on 18 June 2021 addressed to the public opinion and entitled “The Truth We Kept to Ourselves for Months,” in which they refuted all the plaintiff’s claims and confirmed the absence of the minimum requirements of a fair trial in the hearings that went on for two years. They concluded their statement as follows: “Mr. Soulaimane Raissouni’s case is a political dossier par excellence targeting the freedom of opinion and expression and the freedom of the press, especially since Raissouni is well-known for his virulent writings that criticize public authorities.”

On 11 October 2022, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention called upon the Moroccan authorities to “open an investigation and identify those who were responsible for the arbitrary arrest of Soulaimane Raissouni and to compensate him for the damages incurred as a result of the serious violations that he suffered”. Raissouni’s file was also referred to the UN Rapporteur on Torture due to the “degrading and inhuman treatment he was subjected to in prison.”

After Raissouni was sentenced, criticism came from the United States, which is considered an ally of Morocco. The US Department of State expressed its “disappointment” at the sentence issued against journalist Raissouni, adding that he was targeted because of his critical views. United States Department of State spokesperson Ned Price told reporters: “We believe the judicial process that led to his verdict contradicts the Moroccan system’s fundamental promise of fair trials for individuals accused of crimes, and it is inconsistent with the promise of the 2011 constitution and His Majesty King Mohammed VI’s reform agenda.”

The front page of Akhbar Al-Yaoum the day after Soulaimane Raissouni’s arrest

The Judiciary is a Tool in the Hands of Power

The issue of the Moroccan judiciary becoming a tool in the hands of power was covered by several human rights reports in Morocco and abroad. It was reiterated by historian Maati Monjib, who finds it absurd that “the Moroccan judiciary and authorities became out of the blue interested in the rights of women and homosexuals, while the same judiciary and authorities are reluctant to prosecute foreign pedophiles who have turned the city of Marrakesh into the most notorious haven for pedophilia in the world.” Monjib gives another example of the Moroccan authorities’ lack of credibility, by pointing out to the case of journalist Hajar Raissouni, who was an editor at Akhbar Al-Yaoum, the newspaper headed by her uncle Soulaimane Raissouni. She was arrested and accused of having “sex out of wedlock and an illegal abortion.” Then the authorities forced her to undergo a medical examination to prove she had an abortion! After sentencing her to prison, along with her Sudanese fiancé, a wide advocacy campaign was launched inside and outside Morocco, which ended with the King issuing a pardon where he admitted implicitly to the mistake that occurred and ruined the image he built for himself abroad as a supporter of women’s rights. The price of this “mistake” was very high – it was like shooting oneself in the foot.

Monjib concluded his statement to the investigative journalist by saying that “all allegations of sexual assault made by Moroccan authorities and supported by the judiciary against journalists Taoufik Bouachrine, Omar Radi and Soulaimane Raissouni were nothing but a ploy to silence opposing voices and a message to intimidate and frighten whoever might be tempted in the future to criticize or protest against the authorities in Morocco.”

Maati Monjib

The Truth Will Come Out No Matter How Long It Takes!

The most recent report issued by an international body on the case of the three journalists was produced by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists on 13 October 2022. The Committee urged Morocco to respect its international legal obligations, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which require the country to protect the right to freedom of expression and the press. However, these calls often go unanswered since Moroccan authorities have normalized ties with Israel and now draw strength from these relations. This situation prompted University Professor Mohamed Sassi to warn that normalization was “a preemptive war on democracy and the freedom of expression in Morocco.”

In his last hearing, Omar Radi stood up when it was his turn to deliver his final statements, and told the court, as well as the authority behind it that turned the judiciary into a tool for revenge against its dissidents: “Allow me to return to the 1990s in Tunisia, when journalists, dissidents and scholars were being convicted of sexual charges, and fake victims, fake jurists, and a yellow press were used to whitewash the crime of fabricating charges. But in 2015, public hearings were held for the real victims, and the truth was uncovered. It turned out that the fake victims, fake jurists and yellow press were thugs unleashed by the regime to oppress dissidents… Of course, I do not wish the same fate for my country, but the truth will always come to the surface. It will be revealed sooner or later, and tomorrow will bring truth, freedom, dignity and fairness to the real victims.”