Moroccan activist sentenced for online posts
Moroccan activist Fouad Abdelmoumni has been sentenced to six months in prison for ‘spreading false allegations’ in a post on Facebook, according to The New Arab on March 4th.
In October last year, Abdelmoumni accused the Moroccan government of spying on France in a case that saw Moroccan authorities investigated which eventually led to the activist being sentenced this year.
Abdelmoumni was only held in custody for two days before standing trial this year. The six month prison sentence therefore comes as a shock.
His lawyer told the press in the wake of the verdict that: ‘He should have been prosecuted under the Press Code, which does not provide for prison sentences, rather than the Penal Code.’
He also insisted that his client would only be sent to prison should a high court in Casablanca uphold the verdict.
Morocco has sought to crack down on online dissent in recent years and Abdelmoumni’s post is an example of this attitude.
He wrote on Facebook last year that, ‘France, which sees its position decline among all nations, would not want to give in to the blackmail of a weak state which uses all the means of pressure at its disposal…including espionage.’
Moroccan prosecutors claimed that the post was ‘harmful to the kingdom’s interests’. However, Abdelmoumni was not alone in making his accusations.
A report claiming that Morocco had used Israeli-made Pegasus spyware to monitor figures including French President Emmanuel Macron was produced by Forbidden Stories and Amnesty International.
Pegasus spyware is made by the Israeli firm ‘NSO Group’ and is capable of accessing mobile phones before extracting data and activating the use of cameras.
The post was made some two years after the initial accusations during a visit of Macron which was made to signify the improvement of diplomatic relations after the spying accusations in 2021.
Fouad is a human rights lawyer and was a founding member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights as well as being a partner of Amnesty International Morocco.
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