Four journalists held for more than 10 days, facing prison terms

Reporters Without Borders today urged the authorities to explain why they are holding four journalists who were originally detained under an anti-terrorism law but are now reportedly going to be prosecuted under the press law and face prison terms. Three of the journalists are to appear before an investigating judge in Rabat tomorrow. They are Mustapha Kechnini, publisher of the Oujda-based weekly Al Hayat al Maghribia, Mohammed el Hourd, publisher of the Oujda-based weekly Asharq, and Abdelmajid Ben Tahar, Asharq's editor. The fourth journalist, Mustapha Alaoui, managing editor of the weekly Al Ousboue, appeared before a judge yesterday. "We call on justice minister Mohamed Bouzoubaâ to clarify the charges these journalists face, and we would like to know exactly what they are supposed to have done," Reporters Without Borders secretary-general Robert Ménard said. "If the fight against terrorism is to be a legitimate one, it must not violate freedoms and the freedom of expression in particular," Ménard added, calling for the immediate release of the journalists. The organisation pointed out that the UN special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Abid Hussain, called on all governments in January 2000 "to ensure that press crimes are no longer subject to prison sentences except for crimes such as racist or discriminatory comments or appeals for violence." The imposition of a prison sentence for the peaceful expression of opinion "constitutes a serious violation of human rights," Hussain said. At the first hearing in Alaoui's trial yesterday, the judge denied a request for his provisional release, although the 67-year-old editor had to be rushed to Avicenne hospital in Rabat two days after his arrest on 5 June with a diabetic attack. He was detained for publishing a letter from a hitherto unknown group claiming responsibility for three of the five bombings in Casablanca on 16 May. The prosecutor's office said this was "a flagrant violation of criminal law provisions, especially those in the law on the struggle against terrorism." Kechnini, Hourd and Ben Tahar were detained on 13 June on the orders of the state prosecutor and are currently being held in Salé prison in Rabat. Kechnini was arrested because the 5 May issue of his newspaper (No. 118) contained an article by an Islamist, Zakkaria Boughara, praising the "jihad movement" in Morocco. Hourd and Ben Tahar were detained over the same article, which they published in their newspaper on 5 June. The Rabat appeal court prosecutor originally said that Kechnini, Hourd and Ben Tahar - as well as the article's author Boughara - were among those detained in the investigation into the 16 May bombings. However, it appears that they are now being prosecuted under articles 38 and 39 of the press law, which provides for prison sentences of between one and three years.