Maâti Monjib has been on hunger strike since March 4. This Franco-Moroccan historian and journalist intends to protest against his detention. Reporters Without Borders calls for his urgent release.
Arrested at the end of December, Maâti Monjib has been serving a one-year prison sentence since the end of January for fraud and endangering state security. As a sign of support, the NGO RSF organized a symbolic action on Friday in front of the Moroccan embassy in Paris.
🔴#MaatiMonjib, en grève de la faim depuis 16 jours.
— RSF (@RSF_inter) March 19, 2021
Alors que la santé du journaliste franco-marocain se dégrade dangereusement, RSF était devant l’ambassade du #Maroc pour demander la libération immédiate et la fin d’une injustice flagrante.https://t.co/Rd72x2TYT4 pic.twitter.com/rJaP0dZ5Xy
“There is an emergency,” insists Christophe Deloire, RSF secretary general. He has been on hunger strike for 17 days, because he is being arbitrarily detained, because he was subjected to an unfair trial. It is really a procedure which does not respect the elementary canons of justice. The rights of the defense have been violated. Maati Monjib is a journalist, a historian, a committed man, but in our opinion he is a journalist who clearly hinders power. A power which, in Morocco, too often, instrumentalizes justice to settle accounts with journalists who simply do their job. Maati Monjib was one of the founders of the Moroccan Association for Investigative Journalism. He has trained hundreds of journalists and, quite clearly, he has been subjected to unfair procedures, aside from the substantive issue. And today, the unfairness of the proceedings, as well as the deterioration of his state of health, justifies an unconditional and immediate release. “
