Citizen journalist Rabie Al-Ablaq is being prosecuted for publishing “videos criticizing social disparities and corruption”.
A Moroccan activist, Rabie Al-Ablaq, was sentenced on Monday, April 25 to four years in prison for “offending” King Mohammed VI on social networks, we learned from his defense. “The Al-Hoceima [north] court of the first instance sentenced Rabie Al-Ablaq to four years in prison for insulting the king’s person by electronic means,” his lawyer Abdelmajid Azaryah told AFP.
This 35-year-old citizen activist and journalist will also have to pay a fine of 20,000 dirhams (about 1,900 euros). His lawyer has announced his intention to appeal. Mr. Al-Ablaq appeared free before the Al-Hoceima court where his trial opened on 11 April.
On Facebook and YouTube
The accused was prosecuted for having published “videos criticizing social disparities and corruption”, according to his lawyer. “I was shocked by this verdict because it [Mr. Al Ablaq] only expressed his opinion. I don’t think he harmed the [royal] institution.”
According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the indictment stemmed from two videos, posted on Facebook and YouTube in September and November 2021, in which Mr. Al-Ablaq “addressed the king in a familiar tone and underlined the contrast between his personal wealth and the widespread poverty in Morocco”.
“Penalizing peaceful criticism of those in power is a clear violation of the right to freedom of expression,” said the human rights NGO in a recent statement, calling for the charges against the activist to be dropped.
In 2018, Rabie Al-Ablaq was imprisoned and then sentenced to five years in prison for his participation in the protest movement that agitated the Moroccan region of Rif (north) in 2016-2017 before being pardoned by the king in 2020.
Another Moroccan human rights activist, Saïda El-Alami, 48, who regularly posted critical posts against the authorities on social media, was arrested on March 23 and is being prosecuted for “insulting public officials in the exercise of their functions”, “undermining justice” and “disseminating false allegations”. The verdict is expected Friday.
