Moroccan journalist exposes ethics panel’s alleged misconduct
Moroccan Journalist Hamid El Mahdaoui leaks recordings from meeting with Provisional Commission for the National Press Council
Moroccan Journalist Hamid El Mahdaoui has published excerpts from a meeting with the ethics committee of the Provisional Commission, which is responsible for managing the affairs of the press and publishing sector, on his YouTube channel, according to Yabilaadi on November 21st.
The meeting, which was about an application for a press card for the Moroccan journalist, allegedly revealed unethical statements from the members of the provisional commission, as well as legal breaches.
The Provisional Commission is a temporary body that has been set up in place of the National Press Council (CNP), which has to hold new elections to set up the CNP. Its functions include evaluating the situation of the press and publishing sector, proposing measures to improve press regulations and ethics, and preparing an election for a reformed CNP.
The ethics committee members had reportedly made offensive and subjective remarks about El Mahdaoui, and rejected his request for a press card on the grounds that he had not given evidence that his main income came from working as a journalist.
The PJD (Justice and Development Party) in Morocco have expressed “solidarity with the journalist Hamid El Mahdaoui in light of the inappropriate and humiliating treatment he has suffered.” They also demanded a judicial investigation into the recordings and its contents.
The party also urged the government of Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch to “withdraw the draft law related to [the restructuring of] the National Press Council from the House of Councillors, until the results of the judicial investigation are published.”
The Commission has responded, saying that El Mahdaoui has made serious allegations against them that undermine their credibility as a state institution and constitute defamation. They have also requested royal protection against the video.
The leak has sparked a reaction from the Moroccan Press Publishers Foundation, who called it a “rights and ethical massacre”. The group has labelled the incident a part of a larger “systemic plan”, in which they were not consulted, and a draft law gave the commission monopoly over the National Press Council.
Their statement also warned of the Moroccan Press turning into a tool for influence by curbing dissent, instead of its watchdog function for society. Last year, 43 cases of censorship tied to increasing repression in Morocco were documented. This included Omar Radi’s case, an investigative journalist who was spied on, jailed, and harassed for exposing corruption and state abuse.
Hamid El Mahdaoui was also arrested for publicly criticising the ban on protests in 2017, and more recently for “spreading false allegations” against Justice Minister Abdellatif Ouahbi.
The Moroccan Press Publishers Foundation called the language used in the leaked video “intellectual emptiness and ethical decay”, also stressing how El Mahdaoui’s dignity and right to defend were violated, stripping him of the chance for a fair disciplinary proceeding.
Yabilaadi, Presse Maroc, Hespress, Le7TV, Human Rights Watch, Jurist, Maghrebi.org
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