No pardon for Ali Lmrabet

Jailed newspaper editor Ali Lmrabet was not one of the 669 prison inmates who received a royal pardon from King Mohammed VI on "Throne Day" on 30 July, the fourth anniversary of his accession to the Moroccan throne. The pardons were announced on the eve of the anniversary. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4 july 2003 Continuing concern about Ali Lmrabet's health Reporters Without Borders said today it continued to be very concerned about the health of imprisoned newspaper editor Ali Lmrabet, calling for his personal physician to be allowed to visit him in the Rabat hospital where he is being held and for him to be moved to a private room. A group of four doctors who visited him on 29 June, six days after he called off a hunger strike he had kept up for 50 days, reported finding alarming symptoms such as "nervous disorders and renal colic." A close relative said he is suffering from "terrible diarrhea, which is aggravating his dehydration, and biological imbalances." Other sources, however, have said he is improving. Reporters Without Borders said Lmrabet's personal doctor, Jamila Rhandy, who has not been able to see him since 13 June, should be allowed to resume visiting him and to carry out all necessary tests. The organisation also said he should be given his own room in the hospital because his immune defences are very weak. The owner and editor of two satirical weeklies, the French-language Demain Magazine and the Arabic-language Douman, Lmrabet was imprisoned on 21 May and is serving a three-year sentence for "insulting the person of the king", "offence against territorial integrity" and "offence against the monarchy." He was originally sentenced to four years in prison, but this was reduced to three years on a appeal on 17 June. The court also fined him 20,000 dirhams (about 2,000 euros) and banned his two weeklies. He was rushed from prison to Avicenne hospital in Rabat on 26 May.