Appeal court again decides to keep newspaper editor in prison - Decision on appeal to be issued on 17 June

Reporters Without Borders reiterated its call for the immediate release of detained newspaper editor Ali Lmrabet after his lawyers today withdrew from the second hearing in his appeal case, accusing the court of "violating the rights of the defence." Lmrabet attended the hearing in a wheelchair but appeared very weak from the hunger strike he began on 6 May. The appeal court is due to issue its decision on 17 June. "Once again we have seen a travesty of justice and the judicial authorities seem bent on dragging out the ordeal," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said. "What have they got to lose by releasing a man who started the sixth week of his hunger strike today and has no strength left." Lmrabet's lawyers, Ahmed Benjelloun and Abderrahim Jamaï, withdrew from today's appeal hearing after two hours because several of their motions were rejected, including their latest request for his provisional release. A request for his release was also rejected at the first hearing on 5 June. Benjelloun said evidence submitted by the defence, namely a photo of King Mohammed's wedding and a Paris-Match report on it, were withdrawn from the case file although one of the charges on which Lmrabet was convicted, "insulting the person of the king," arose from a photomontage made from this photograph. The other charges on which he was convicted by a Rabat court on 21 May were "offence against territorial integrity" and "offence against the monarchy." The court sentenced him to four years in prison, fined him 20,000 dirhams (about 2,000 euros) and banned his two satirical weeklies, the French-language Demain Magazine and its Arabic-language sister Douman. He was taken from the courtroom to a prison cell. When he began his hunger strike on 6 May, Lmrabet said he was acting to defend his rights, to put an end to repeated acts of intimidation against his printer and others who would otherwise be ready to print his weeklies, and in order to be able to enjoy the right to freedom of movement.  On 26 May, at the end of his third week on hunger strike, he was rushed from prison to Avicenne hospital in Rabat.