Morocco’s King Mohammed VI granted pardons on Monday, July 29, 2024, to three journalists detained for years along with hundreds of other prisoners, to commemorate his 25th anniversary on the throne.
Omar Radi, Soulaimane Raissouni, and Taoufik Bouachrine, along with historian and rights advocate Maati Monjib, were among the 2,476 individuals pardoned, according to a government official who spoke anonymously.
Rights groups, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), had condemned the imprisonment of Radi and Raissouni, who were detained in 2020 on charges of sexual assault, which they deny.
Human Rights Watch has accused Morocco of utilizing criminal trials, especially for alleged sexual offenses, as “techniques of repression” to silence journalists and government critics.
The country’s top court rejected the final appeals of the two journalists in July 2023. Morocco ranked 129th out of 180 countries on RSF’s 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
(AFP)
