Moroccan brothers sentenced to three months after protest

Two brothers in Morocco were arrested and sentenced to three months in prison after they protested the death of their family member under police custody, Lakome reported on June 15th.

According to the news source, known for its critical stance toward Moroccan state narratives, the Al-Shabli brothers were arrested after their family conducted a sit-in protest demanding justice for the death of their family member, Yassin Al-Shabli.

They were then sentenced by the Ben Guerir Court of First Instance in the early hours of June 15th, along with a fine.

Apparently, the grounds for their sentence include “insulting public officials while performing their duties or by making statements, gestures, or threats with the intent to harm their honour, feelings, or the respect due to their authority.”

The indictment also allegedly contained “broadcasting and distributing, through information systems, a combination of false claims and facts with the intent to harm the privacy of individuals and defame them” and “photographing a person without their permission.”

The verdict of sparked widespread outrage, with the brothers’ defence team completely rejecting the outcome altogether. Attorney Adel-Ilah described the case and the general treatment of the Al-Shabli family as a human rights massacre. He also supposedly referenced how the defence team had restrictions that made the trial unfair.

Morocco has found itself at the centre of a number of human rights controversies in recent years. Maghrebi reported on one in particular in which a protest against the marginalisation of Sahrawis was forcibly broken up by police, ending in the deaths of 36 Sahrawis and 11 officers.

Workers rights in the kingdom are also a point of concern, with the country in the top 43 worst offenders of them, according to the 2025 Global Rights Index.

Said and Ayman Al-Shabli are said to be on a hunger strike while under incarceration.

Lakome, Maghrebi