Two weeklies closed in apparent application of old, rescinded court order

Reporters Without Borders today roundly condemned the closure of two Arabic-language weeklies for three months on 18 January in apparent application of an 18-month-old court order although the order was subsequently rescinded by a royal pardon. The two publication affected are Al Hayat al Maghribia (which means "Moroccan life") and Acharq ("The East"). "The Rabat appeal court did indeed sentence these two independent newspapers to three months' suspension in August 2003 for publishing a statement by an organisation claiming three of the five Casablanca bombings on their front pages," Reporters Without Borders said. "But there are no longer any legal grounds for pursuing this case as the ruling was later quashed by a royal pardon, so we call on the authorities to clarify the reasons for this suspension or simply allow them to resume publishing at once," the organisation added. Al Hayat Al Maghribia editor Mustapha Kechnanni and Acharq editor Mohammad Lhourd were summoned to the office of regional intelligence chief Khalid Hamouda in the northeastern city of Oujda on 18 January and told the justice minister had ordered the immediate closure of their newspapers. They were given no chance to appeal although, if a new complaint had been brought, the law would have allowed them to appeal to the supreme court. When Kechnanni and Lhourd asked to see a copy of the justice ministry order, their request was refused. They were notified verbally of both the summons and the suspension order. In protest, the two editors refused to sign a statement summarising what had taken place at the meeting. Thereafter, the authorities immediately ordered the seizure of all copies of the newspapers from news stands throughout the kingdom, instructed the distribution company SAPRESS to no longer distribute them, and told printing complies to no longer print them.