Shock and concern after Ali Lmrabet banned from practising as a journalist for 10 years

Reporters Without Borders said it was "extremely shocked" after a court banned journalist Ali Lmrabet from practising his profession for ten years and sentenced him to a heavy fine. "It is the first time in the history of the Moroccan press that a journalist has been given such a heavy sentence in a defamation case," the worldwide press freedom organisation said. "It is obvious that the Moroccan authorities want to silence Ali Lmrabet at a time when he was waiting for the final go-ahead to bring out a new newspaper," it added. "This ruling marks a low point in a campaign of denigration against Ali Lmrabet and is a serious blot on freedom of opinion and the press in Morocco. We are very concerned about the future of the Moroccan media. This unprecedented sentence could have dangerous consequences for journalists." A Rabat lower court on 12 April sentenced Lmrabet to a ten-year ban on working as a journalist and a fine of 50,000 dirhams (about 4,500 euros) over a defamation suit brought on 17 March 2005 by Ahmed El Kher, spokesman for Association of Families of Sahrawis victims of repression in Tindouf camps (PASVERTI). He was also sentenced to pay a symbolic one dirham to the complainant and to publish the verdict, at his expense and for three weeks in the Arabic-language daily Al Ahdath Al Maghribia. It followed remarks by the journalist, carried on 12 January 2005 by the Arabic-language Moroccan weekly Al Moustakil, about the Sahrawis of Tindouf, southwest Algeria in which he said they were not being "held" as Moroccan officials claim, but were "refugees" as defined by the UN. Lmrabet's trial was riddled with irregularities. At the first hearing on 5 April, the judges refused a postponement on the grounds that Lmrabet was in Spain where he works for the daily El Mundo and had not been able to travel. The court also refused to hear his lawyer's defence speech, Sir Abderrahim Jamaï, on the grounds that his client was absent, for which there is no provision under Moroccan law. A list of around six defence witnesses, including a member of Amnesty International, several foreign journalists and a Spanish film-maker in corroboration of the journalist's remarks, was rejected. Moreover as Jamaï explained over the phone: "Ahmed El Kher does not have the legal status of complainant. His complaint should have been rejected since an individual cannot claim to speak for a nation. It is the prosecutor-general's office that can, if it wishes, bring this kind of complaint. The case was therefore unfounded." The lawyer said he intended to bring an appeal against the ruling. A similar complaint has recently been laid by several residents of different Moroccan towns. The court decision comes just after the journalist had received, on 22 March 2005, a provisional acknowledgement from the crown prosecutor at the Rabat high court for the creation of a new weekly newspaper. Under Moroccan law a final acknowledgement of receipt of the file should be sent one month later, on 22 April. "The hounding by the royal palace goes on. What is Mohammed VI so afraid of that he attacks a journalist in this way?" Lmrabet asked in an interview with the organisation. Reporters Without Borders has previously voiced concern over a campaign to discredit him in the Moroccan media after he wrote an article on Polisario Front prisoners of war, carried in November 2004 by the Spanish daily El Mundo and an interview in the Arabic-language weekly Al Moustakil in January 2005. Sit-ins were held by previously unknown organisations and some dozen dailies headlined reports "Ali Lmrabet's treason".