Ali Lmrabet ends hunger strike - Campaign for his release continues

Reporters Without Borders today welcomed jailed newspaper editor Ali Lmrabet's decision to call off his hunger strike after 50 days. The decision was announced yesterday by Prince Moulay Hicham, King Mohammed's cousin, at a news conference in Casablanca in which the participants included Lmrabet's lawyers and sisters and Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard. Lmrabet has lost 22 kg since beginning his hunger strike on 6 May, and he is very weak. Ménard called for him to be given all necessary medical tests to ensure that he does not suffer serious aftereffects, and for him to be allowed to receive a visit from his personal physician, Jamila Rhandy, who has not been able to see him for the past week. Reporters Without Borders said Lmrabet's decision to end his hunger strike was a relief to all his friends and colleagues but was not a victory. Certain sources close to the government had said King Mohammed might issue a royal pardon, but this had not yet happened. Lmrabet was still in prison, he still had to serve a three-year jail sentence for his opinions and his two satirical weeklies were still banned, so the international campaign had to go on, the organisation said. Reporters Without Borders confirmed that it would continue its own efforts to obtain Lmrabet's release. This will include a campaign to alert tourists travelling to Morocco to the other side of a country that is subject to royal caprice and press freedom violations. "Keeping Lmrabet in prisons signals a step back for freedom of expression in Morocco and an increase in authoritarianism by the monarchy," Ménard said. "No one in the Kingdom of Morocco or abroad should resign themselves to this violation of freedoms." Lmrabet is Reporters Without Borders' correspondent in Morocco as well as being the owner and editor of the French-language Demain Magazine and its Arabic-language version Douman. He has been in prison since 21 May when a court in Rabat convicted him of "insulting the person of the king", "offence against territorial integrity" and "offence against the monarchy." The court sentenced him to four years in prison, banned his two publications and fined him 20,000 dirhams (about 2,000 euros). He was rushed from prison to Avicenne hospital in Rabat on 26 May, four days after being jailed. An appeal court on 17 June upheld the conviction while reducing the prison term to three years. Lmrabet's lawyers have appealed against this decision to the court of cassation.