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\nAmidst growing popular frustration with social inequality and economic hardship, the regime is lashing out against critical voices.<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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The Moroccan police on December 26, 2019 arrested journalist Omar Radi after an expedited conviction process. Radi spent six days before being released on bail. His trial is set for March 5, 2020. His crime according to the authorities? Tweeting six months ago<\/a> in criticism of a judge involved in the trials<\/a> of Rif activists. This official reason is confusing given the timing of Radi\u2019s conviction. In fact, it is possible that Radi\u2019s arrest was motivated, not by his supposedly \u201cinsulting a magistrate\u201d six months prior, but by an interview he gave on an Algerian radio channel on December 23<\/a> discussing the Moroccan regime\u2019s expropriation of tribal lands.<\/p>\n
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A pattern of judicial repression<\/span><\/h5>\n
The regime has displayed a pattern of repressing activists through judicial proceedings, sometimes under false pretexts. Indeed, famous activists perceived by the regime as dissidents- such as Radi, the journalist Hajar Raissouni, and the rapper Gnawi- are taken to court over unrelated issues, such as a supposed abortion<\/a> in Raissouni\u2019s case or a video<\/a> that allegedly incited violence against the police in Gnawi\u2019s case.<\/p>\n
In fact, Omar Radi was not the only Moroccan to face prosecution over freedom of expression on December 26. That same day, YouTuber Mohammed Sekkaki (known as Moul Lcasquetta<\/em>) was sentenced to four years in prison and a 40,000-dirham fine (close to four thousand dollars) for accusations of \u201cinsulting the king\u201d in several YouTube<\/a> videos. In a similar case, Mohamed Ben Bouddouh (known as Moul Lhanout<\/em><\/a>) was arrested earlier in December in Tifelt for criticizing the king on social media. His whereabouts are currently unknown.<\/p>\n
In the same week of Radi\u2019s arrest and Sekkaki\u2019s sentencing, Abdelali Bahmad<\/a>– an unemployed youth and former member of the National Union of Moroccan Students- stood trial on December 23 for \u201cinsulting the country\u2019s flag and symbols\u201d and \u201cviolating [its] territorial integrity\u201d on social media. Bahmad, who had participated in several protests in Al Hoceima and Jerada, was arrested in the past due to his political activism.<\/p>\n
Activists and journalists who criticized the regime have faced increased repression since the 2011 uprisings, but they are not the only ones targeted by this sort of crackdown. Most notably, the Rif protests<\/a>– catalyzed by Mohcine Fikri\u2019s death<\/a> and triggered by economic hardship, social inequality, and government corruption<\/a>– were met with brusque<\/a> repression<\/a>. Protest organizers were handed down 20-year prison sentences, and several mid-level Rif protesters have sought asylum in Europe after receiving summons to appear. While a royal pardon<\/a> suspended many of the Rif sentences, high-profile activists remain in prison.<\/p>\n
The regime\u2019s judicial repression of critical voices targets not only activists but non-politicized young people as well. For instance, an eighteen-year-old high school student<\/a> in Meknes was sentenced on December 19 to three years in prison for a Facebook post in which he used the lyrics of the controversial song \u201cAach Achaab<\/a><\/em>\u201d (Long Live the People). Gnawi, one of the rappers who wrote and performed the song, is himself currently serving a one-year jail sentence<\/a> supposedly for insulting the police in a video released in October. However, his lawyer maintains that the legal proceedings targeting his client were motivated by the controversial song. Another eighteen-year-old high school student was arrested near Laayoune on December 29, 2019<\/a> for posting a rap song<\/a> on YouTube criticizing the kingdom\u2019s socioeconomic situation and qualifying the regime as a \u201cdictatorship.\u201d He was sentenced to four years in prison on December 31, 2019.<\/p>\n
The practice of silencing dissident voices through legal proceedings is not a recent phenomenon. On October 17, 2018, entrepreneur Soufiane Al Nguad<\/a> was sentenced to two years in prison and a 20,000-dirham fine (around two thousand dollars) for \u201cinciting public violence,\u201d \u201cinsulting the country\u2019s flag and symbols,\u201d and \u201cpropagation of hate.\u201d Al Nguad had published a Facebook post calling people to protest after the Moroccan navy had shot a migrant speedboat on September 25, 2018, leading to the death of 20-year-old Hayat Belkacem<\/a>.<\/p>\n
The previous year, on August 4, blogger Mohammed Taghra<\/a> was arrested in Ouled Teima and was sentenced to 10 months in prison for \u201ccriminal defamation.\u201d Taghra had published a video report on police corruption (in which he interviewed local citizens and asked about their firsthand experience on the topic). His videographer, Badreddine Sekouate, received a four-month sentence. Taghra\u2019s sentence was later reduced to four months while Sekouate\u2019s was suspended.<\/p>\n
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The myth of Moroccan exceptionalism<\/span><\/h5>\n
The Moroccan regime\u2019s pattern of judicial repression may come as a surprise to outside observers<\/a> who had applauded<\/a> the regime\u2019s reaction to the 2011 uprisings and what some termed \u201cMoroccan exceptionalism<\/a>.\u201d The latter argues that the kingdom successfully contained the uprising by behaving exceptionally, through pre-emptive reforms <\/a>, and due to inherent legitimacy<\/a> (tribal, religious, or historical). While Morocco was integrated with the other Arab monarchies in the \u201cmonarchy-republic divide<\/a>\u201d coverage of the uprisings, by far the most popular angle used to explain the Moroccan regime\u2019s survival is one related to its so-called reformist<\/a> behavior. This argument overlooks the reported violence against February 20 activists and the wider protest movement, and it focuses on positive changes made to the constitutional text in 2011.<\/p>\n
Close to ten years after the 2011 uprisings, however, this argument has been disproved by (1) the lack of genuine change within the political system, as well as (2) the authorities\u2019 repeated judicial harassment of activists, (3) the regime\u2019s unwavering repression of protesters in Al Hoceima, Jerada, and elsewhere, and (4) police forces\u2019 brutal shutdown of scattered protests across urban centers.<\/p>\n
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Outlook: So long, Human Rights!<\/span><\/h5>\n
Omar Radi may receive a prison sentence – in which case he may be pardoned or the charges against him may be dropped due to the popular backlash triggered by his unfair conviction. However, beyond this singular case, the degradation of human rights in Morocco is concerning.<\/p>\n
Unbridled by domestic or international human rights organizations, the Moroccan regime will have little incentive to stop repressing protestors and activists as the socioeconomic crisis that inspired recent popular unrest persists. Indeed, according to the World Bank<\/a>, a quarter of Moroccans are poor or at risk of poverty, and the gap between the highest and lowest socioeconomic classes is wide. Morocco\u2019s Gini Coefficient<\/a> (i.e., inequality index) is 40.9%, meaning it has not improved since 1999. This is the highest rate in North Africa – excluding Libya which is in the throes of civil war. Morocco also ranks lower<\/a> than its neighbors in the UNDP Human Development Index, especially in terms of healthcare, education, and access to electricity and clean water. Furthermore, Morocco struggles with high youth unemployment rates, which reached 22% nationally and 43% in urban areas in 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n