Human Rights in Morocco - Freedom of Expression

Freedom of Expression

Freedom of the press is relatively good compared with most other North African and Middle Eastern countries, though many journalists are thought to practice self-censorship. Questioning the legitimacy of the monarchy is a taboo. The debate on political Islam is severely restricted and it is illegal to question the kingdom's "territorial integrity", i.e. the virtual annexation of the Western Sahara. In 2005 the well known Moroccan journalist Ali Lmrabet was "banned from practising journalism for 10 years" and fined 50,000 Dirhams (about 4,500 euros) for reporting about conflict in the Western Sahara, according to Reporters Without Borders. As of 2007 Lmrabet is still barred from working as a journalist.

With the appearance in the scene of a few independent francophone magazines, such as Tel Quel and Le Journal Hebdomadaire and their sister Arabic counterparts (i.e. Assahifa Al Ousbouia), government control over the media has moved somewhat from direct intervention to more subtle pressures, such as the use of law suits and libel cases.

On May 2, 2007 the New York City-based NGO Committee to Protect Journalists published their annual report on the "10 countries where press freedom has most deteriorated" where it has reported that Morocco has "back slided" in terms of press freedom in 2007 after "having been considered as a leader in its region". In the report, Morocco was considered, along with Tunisia, as the country which "sentences the most journalists to prison in the Arab world".

According to the 2009 Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders has ranked Morocco 127 out of 175.