Appeal court upholds suspended prison sentence for newspaper editor

Reporters Without Borders today condemned a Casablanca appeal court ruling on 9 May upholding a suspended sentence of a year in prison and a fine of 100,000 dirhams (9,000 euros) for Driss Chahtane, the editor of the Arabic-language weekly Al Michaâl, for allegedly libelling Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The sentence is yet another reminder of the need to decriminalize press offences, Reporters Without Borders said. Chahtane was convicted under article 52 of the Moroccan press code of “offence against a head of state.” Al Michaâl published a statement yesterday criticising the conduct of the trial. “The verdict took no account of the many complaints by the defence about flagrant procedural irregularities, above all the refusal to submit the Algerian president's supposed petition.” The newspaper's lawyers refused to address the court during the final hearing and staged a walk-out protesting that “the conditions of a fair trial and respect for the right of defence are not guaranteed.” The case was about a cartoon of the Algerian president published in the weekly's 31 May - 6 June 2005 issue together with a satirical article about his private life, which he reportedly considered to be libellous. Chahtane was questioned at length by the Casablanca police and then by a Casablanca prosecutor on 5 June 2005.