Newspaper editor held under new anti-terrorism law

Reporters Without Borders protested today against the detention of Mustapha Alaoui, the managing editor of the Arabic-language weekly Al Ousboue, who has been held under a new anti-terrorism law for the past six days for publishing a letter from a hitherto unknown group claiming responsibility for three of the five bombings in Casablanca on 16 May. Aged 67, Alaoui was detained on 5 June at his home and placed in custody. On 7 June, he was rushed to Ibn Rochd hospital in Casablanca because of a diabetic attack. He was transferred to Sale prison near Rabat yesterday and was supposed to appear before an investigating judge today. "We call for Alaoui's immediate release, especially as his health has deteriorated in the course of his detention," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said. "If he has to be interrogated as part of this investigation, he should at least be free when he appears before the judge," Ménard said. Ménard said Reporters Without Borders had already criticised parts of the anti-terrorism law recently passed by parliament. "Today we are witnessing the first of the abuses this law is capable of producing," he added. Alaoui was arrested shortly after the latest issue of his weekly appeared on the stands. Its front page carried the text of the letter from an unknown group calling itself Assaïqa claiming three of the five Casablanca bombings. The prosecutor's office described the letter's publication as "a flagrant violation of criminal law provisions, especially those in the law on the struggle against terrorism."