Morocco: journalist Omar Radi imprisoned in Casablanca for contempt of court - RFI

By RFIPublished on 12/27/2019 Modified on 12/27/2019 at 6:42 p.m.

Journalist and human rights activist Omar Radi was placed in pre-trial detention on Thursday, December 26. This 33-year-old young man is a well-known figure in the February 20 movement, which in the wave of the Arab Spring had urged the authorities to change the Constitution and call elections. The prosecutor decided to prosecute him for “contempt of court”, following a tweet denouncing a court decision.

Omar Radi is now in Casablanca prison, on the orders of the Aïn Sebaa court of first instance. He was prosecuted under article 263 of the penal code, which punishes contempt of court. In this case, what he is accused of is a tweet from last April, denouncing the confirmation by an appeal judge, of sentences of up to 20 years in prison for 42 members of the Moroccan Hirak , which social protest movement that stirred northern Morocco in 2016 and 2017.

In his tweet, Omar Radi castigated the judge who made this decision, calling him - " executioner of our brothers " and concluding " Neither forgotten nor forgiveness with these officials without dignity ".

Lahcen Talfi, judge of the court of appeal, executioner of our brothers, let us remember him well. In many regimes, little arms like him came back to beg after claiming "to have carried out orders". No forgetting or forgiveness with these dignified officials! https://t.co/MlCAqhPlCX

The judicial police had already heard him for the first time, in April, and questioned him on the precise meaning of his tweet. She had not mentioned any action immediately.

But the prosecutor decided to resume the proceedings this week, to summon him and then place him in pre-trial detention until the next hearing. Pre-trial detention which was the subject of an appeal by his lawyers this Friday, December 27 in the morning. The appeal was dismissed by the Casablanca Court of First Instance. The next hearing has been scheduled for January 2.

I received a summons, oral and then written, from the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ). I'll be there tomorrow. I do not know the reasons for this new invitation. 9 months ago, I was called to the same police department for a tweet story. pic.twitter.com/Fe6l31VNiC

Several NGOs denounced this incarceration on Friday, including Reporters Without Borders who called for his immediate release and who urged " the Moroccan authorities to repeal all the articles of the Penal Code applicable to freedom of expression and information ".

The National Union of Moroccan Press (SNPM), as well as several Moroccan intellectuals and human rights figures also condemned the arrest of Omar Radi, and a support group was formed.

What surprises me is that there may be a step backwards compared to the positive wind that has been unleashed in the country for twenty years. We feel a tightening of screws ...

Omar Benjelloun, lawyer for Omar Radi

2019-12-27 - By RFI

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