Morocco: Pro-Palestinian activist handed 5 year jail sentence
A pro-Palestinian activist’s sentencing for social media posts near Casablanca on April 8 was a reflection of the increasingly censorious attitudes of governments in Morocco and neighbouring countries over recent years, The Associated Press (AP) reported.
The Moroccan Human Rights Space (EMDH), a prominent NGO in the country, understands that Abderrahmane Azenkad’s arrest was part of a clampdown on anti-Israel normalisation protests as Moroccans often spill on to the streets of major cities, ever since the start of Israel’s bombing campaign in Gaza, in their thousands in support of the Palestinian cause as well as urging a total boycott of Israel.
Morocco officially normalised ties with the under-scrutiny Middle Eastern state in December 2020 as part of the US-mediated Abraham Accords. Also as part of the Accords, outgoing President Donald Trump recognised Morocco’s sovereignty over the disputed territory of the Western Sahara.
Despite a large degree of appetite for a distancing from Israel, particularly over recent months, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has not announced any intentions to drastically change Rabat’s current ties with Tel Aviv. It is still illegal under national law to criticise or mock the monarch.
Abderrahmane Azenkad, a member of the Pro-Palestinian Al-Adl Wal Ihssan group (Justice and Charity), was handed a five-year prison sentence as well as being fined 50,000 Dirhams ($5,000) by the Court of First Instance in Mohammedia (a port city in the west coast between Casablanca and Rabat).
On his now-deleted Facebook account, Azenkad regularly criticised Moroccan officials for continued ties with Israel. One post noted, that the cooperation with Israel was “criminal” as well as lambasting the kingdom’s “shameful silence towards the suffering of our brothers under the brutal Zionist occupation.”
The activist, who was arrested last month, was charged with insulting a constitutional institution, incitement to commit misdemeanours through electronic means, and disseminating data that infringes on individuals’ private lives.
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Al-Adl Wal Ihssan said in a press statement that the sentencing of Azenkad was “a serious violation of legal rights and arbitrariness against the freedom of opinion and expression guaranteed by the Moroccan constitution.”
The group has demanded the immediate release of the individual and indeed other anti-normalisation activists who have felt the full force of the law for similar reasons.
EMDH chief Mohamed Al-Ennouini commented, “Azenkad’s trial, like the trials for several other anti-normalisation activists, is against Article 25 of the Moroccan constitution,”
Similarly in August 2023, Said Boukioud, 48, was sentenced to 5 years by a court in Casablanca for criticising the king because of the country’s normalisation of ties with Israel.
As well as criticism of the king, Morocco has also cracked down on internet users over the past two years for speech relating to criticism of the government and Islam.
In neighbouring Tunisia, attacks on the freedoms of political dissidents, journalists and internet users have skyrocketed over the past few years as President Kais Saied becomes increasingly despotic.
In August last year, Tunisia’s Ministries of Justice, Interior and Technology introduced measures to unmask the identity of internet users who criticise government officials, including the sharing of posts scrutinising officials and the President, as well as those who pump out “fake news, data and rumours”.
AP
