One-year prison sentence for libel passed on newspaper editor already in prison

Reporters Without Borders today deplored a sentence of one year in prison and a fine of 10,000 dirhams (about 900 euros) imposed on journalist Anas Tadili by the Rabat appeal court on 29 September for allegedly libelling economy minister Fathallah Oualalou. The editor of the weekly Akhbar al-Ousbouaâ, Tadili is already in Kénistra prison (north of Rabat) serving a six-month prison sentence for a common-law offence. His family and his lawyer say he is being held in the wing reserved for those who have received the death penalty. "We roundly condemn the application of prison sentences in libel cases and we call on the Moroccan authorities to amend the criminal code in order to eliminate jail sentences for press offences," Reporters Without Borders said. The organisation pointed out that the United Nations calls on all governments "to ensure that press crimes are no longer subject to prison sentences except for crimes such as racist or discriminatory comments or appeals for violence." Journalists may be sanctioned in other ways that show more respect to press freedom, such as a fine or payment of damages to those who have been defamed, Reporters Without Borders said, adding: "In Tadili's case, such a long prison sentence and incarceration in a high security prison seem out of all proportion to the offence." Tadili has been convicted for reporting in a 9 April article headlined "Homosexuality and the political class in Morocco" that police surprised a government minister in a homosexual act in a beach resort in the north of the country. He did not name the minister, but it was clear he was alluding to the economy minister. "Even if calling someone a homosexual is very serious in Muslim culture, there is no justification for a one-year prison sentence," Tadili's lawyer told Reporters Without Borders. "I think what counted for the court was the fact that Mr. Oualalou is a government minister and was a teacher at the Royal College," he added. Six days after the article came out, Tadili was suddenly put in prison, supposedly in connection with a 10-year-old common-law case. A detention order was issued because he was unable to immediately pay a fine of 3 million dirhams (about 270,000 euros). The economy minister meanwhile asked Prime Minister Driss Jettou to bring a libel action on his behalf. In Morocco, the head of government has the power to bring such actions when ministers consider they have been defamed. The six-month sentence was passed on Tadili on 1 June. About 10 other complaints have been brought against him and are currently been investigated by the judicial authorities.