The 35-year-old independent reporter, known for his critical positions towards the authorities, is being prosecuted for “undermining the internal security of the State” and “rape”.
The Moroccan public prosecutor’s office on Tuesday (March 1 ) requested an appeal for the maximum sentence of ten years in prison against journalist and human rights defender Omar Radi, sentenced at first instance to six years in prison in a double case of “espionage” and “rape”.
The public prosecutor’s office “claims the maximum sentence against the accused with regard to the incriminating evidence”, indicated its representative before the Casablanca Court of Appeal, according to an AFP journalist on the spot.
The 35-year-old independent reporter, known for his critical positions towards the authorities, is being prosecuted for “undermining the internal security of the State” with “foreign financing” and for “rape”, two separate cases, investigated and judged jointly.
According to the prosecutor, Mr. Radi met Dutch diplomatic representatives – presented by the prosecution as “intelligence officers”, which in his eyes “proves the guilt” of the journalist who for his part refuted these allegations. The latter is also accused of having “provided information of the order of espionage” to two British economic consulting companies.
Hacked phone
Mr. Radi claimed to have carried out “verification audits” for these two British firms, but he assured that he had only done his job as a journalist based on data open to the public. Among the other elements in charge: funding received from a philanthropic foundation based in Geneva, Bertha. Mr. Radi assures us that it is a scholarship.
The public prosecutor considers that the journalist collaborated with a foundation “hostile to the territorial integrity of the country”, in reference to the Western Sahara which Morocco and the separatists of the Polisario Front are fighting over.
The investigation for “espionage” was opened at the end of June 2020 after the publication of a report by Amnesty International claiming that Mr. Radi’s phone had been hacked by Moroccan authorities via Israeli software Pegasus. An accusation described as “false” by Rabat.
In the second case, the complainant, a former colleague of the journalist, reaffirmed having been a “victim of rape” during her hearing held behind closed doors. Mr. Radi spoke of “voluntarily consented relationships”.
Solidarity campaign
“Victim impact statements are consistent and honest. Today, it is broken, hence the need to protect rape victims,” pleaded the lawyer for the civil party, Abdelkarim Mlih. “It is time for rape cases to be punished severely,” added another lawyer, M e Aïcha El Guella. The charge of “rape” is punishable by ten years in prison.
The defense insisted that this double case “is devoid of incriminating facts” and demanded that the journalist be “exonerated”. Omar Radi, supported by a solidarity campaign in Morocco and abroad which calls for his release, has always claimed to be prosecuted because of his writings, in particular in favor of social movements and against corruption. The Moroccan authorities,, ensure that his trial “has nothing to do with his journalistic work”.
Another journalist, Imad Stitou, 32, was sentenced to one year in prison, including six months, in the same rape case. He was first presented as the only defense witness before being prosecuted in a state of freedom during the investigation. Judged in his absence, Mr. Stitou left Morocco for Tunisia. The verdict should be pronounced Thursday at the end of the next hearing.
