The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) said in a report on Thursday 3 August 2023 it has documented “dozens of cases of legal proceedings” against internet users over the past two years.
It said many of these related to posts on social networks criticizing the authorities. The AMDH said proceedings were launched “on the basis of political opinions, investigations, press articles published on social networks, or because of participation in peaceful demonstrations”.
It said sentences handed down over the past two years ranged from a few months to six years in prison. Only five defendants were acquitted, it added, without elaborating.
The group said rights activists, as well as ordinary people, have been jailed on charges ranging from “attacking Islam or the monarchy” to “insulting civil servants”.
The authorities say they are battling defamation and “attacks against individual freedoms” on social networks, calling these “crimes” punishable by imprisonment. On Monday, a court in Casablanca sentenced an internet user to five years for criticising the king on Face book over Morocco’s normalization of ties with Israel.
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 5 AUGUST 2023
