Upon the death of his father, it looked as if Morocco might be on its way toward total freedom of expression.  This post is too short to go into much detail, but tentatively at first, then progressively with more and more confidence the media and the arts began to confront previously taboo subjects including corruption in government and the private sector, human rights abuses, gender oppression, linguistic and cultural suppression of minorities, policies in the Western Sahara, homosexual rights, etc.

There was shock when the Moroccan magazine TelQuel was able to publish an investigative piece on “The Salary of the King,” and get away with it.  Under his father Hassan the II such matters were kept as secret as nuclear launch codes.  I don’t mean to say that the media totally ignored all that was wrong in Morocco until the liberalization, either.  But when something was  reported, it was done very carefully, with great care as to who was bore the blame.  All of that changed in the years following the elevation to the throne of Mohammed VI.

Recently, however, there have been a number of setbacks and it has been hard to watch.  I lived in Morocco for six years, really at the beginning of my teaching career, some of my closest friends are there, and it has become a place I think of as much as home as almost as much as any other place.  For such reasons, these stories make me very sad.  On the 16th of October the issue was claims published about the health of the king.

Idriss Chahtane, the head of the Moroccan weekly news publication Al Michaâl, was on Thursday sentenced to a year in prison without the possibility of parole by a Rabat court, for articles he published on September 3 questioning the health of King Mohammed VI.

The court also fined Chahtane 10,000 dirhams (approximately 885 euros) and ordered his immediate incarceration.

The same court handed down three-month prison sentences to two journalists at the same Arabic-language publication, Rachid Mhamid and Mustapha Hirane, who were slapped with fines of 5000 dirhams (440 euros). They were also held liable for their court costs.

Chahtane’s specific charge was “ill-intentioned publication of false information” and “allegations and unverified facts.” Mhamid and Hirane were charged for their participation in the incident.

On August 26, the royal palace announced that King Mohammed VI had been placed in convalescence for an “infection” that presented “no cause for concern regarding his health.”

— via France 24

Then, at the end of September, Akhabar Al Youm was under attack for an editorial cartoon.

Morocco’s ministry of interior ordered the seizure and banning of independent Moroccan newspaper Akhbar Al Youm for three days in a row, 26-28 September, 2009. According to a ministerial communiqué, the banned paper published a caricature of Mouly Ismail, the cousin of Mohammed VI, as he was celebrating his wedding with as a backdrop a Moroccan flag centered by… a Star of David. Taoufik Bouachrine, the owner of the newspaper, inveighed against the government’s decision to ban the Monday and Tuesday prints of his newspaper since the controversial caricature was published over the weekend. He denied the caricature depicted a Star of David. The Wiccan star on the Moroccan flag lacks the criss-crossing pattern shown on the caricature of Akhbar Al Youm.

The government is charging the newspaper with disrespecting a member of the royal family and flagrant anti-Semitism. It confiscated the newspaper’s offices and publishing locales. In an unusual course of action by the royal family, Mouly Ismail decided to sue Akhbar Al Youm for defamation.
–via “Akhbar Al Youm: Moulay Ishmail?,” A Moroccan about the world around him

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But when, as a result of that silly cartoon, the paper is shut down as recounted above, and the managing director, Taoufik Bouachrine and the cartoonist, Khaled Gueddar, subsequently brought up on charges… well… then it is a story that has legs, as they say in the newspaper business.

Le Monde Cartoon

And this story walked. It walked across the ocean and into Europe where the French newspaper Le Monde ran a story about it and freedom of the press in Morocco on its front page. Smack in the center of the story–what else–an editorial cartoon with crudely drawn characters wearing crowns. On the 24 another cartoon, much more obviously depicting the king, was published. So, of course, the October 23-24 editions of Le Monde were blocked from distribution in Morocco.

I believe Morocco has been on a path of real democratization and liberalization, and by and large the media and the press have been cooperative, testing those freedoms gradually and in increments. The march has been forward and the world has hardly noticed. Until recently, when the government has challenged the media it has done so through legal means, filing injunctions and charges, holding hearings and applying the law, a far cry from the bad old days when newspapers were simply seized and shut down, folks arrested, and no one ever knew why.

But the increasing frequency with which journalist and publishers are being smacked down is not a good sign, and it pains me to see it, firstly because it is unjust, unfair and journalist should not suffer for rendering a public service to their country. Governments tend to see the media as troublemakers, but most journalists see themselves almost as public servants, pointing out what is wrong not for the joy of it but because by exposing it they hope it can be addressed.

It also pains me because progress tends to be incremental and so seldom makes the news. Because of that, so few people realize just how far Morocco has come along the path toward guaranteeing all citizens basic freedoms. It has a very long way to go, to be sure, and these steps back are news. The government must be called out on them and the issues addressed. It is just sad that it cannot be contextualized within the progress that has been made. For that, however, the Moroccan state can only blame itself.

These are not good times for freedom of the press anywhere in the Maghreb. The cartoon that Le Monde published on October 24 caricatured Tunisia President Ben Ali alongside Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, critiquing Tunisia’s suppression of its journalistsin the run up to elections held today. You can see them all in this story.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the Tunisian government to stop its harassment of journalists in advance of national elections.

New York, October 22, 2009—Tunisian authorities must halt harassment of independent journalists, release a journalist jailed for taking photographs, and allow a prominent French reporter to enter the country, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. CPJ has documented a spike in government attacks on independent journalists as Tunisian presidential and legislative elections approach?.

“We condemn this wave of intimidation, detention, and attacks on critical journalists,” said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ’s Middle ?East and North Africa program coordinator. “Coupled with a deep-seated disdain for independent reporting, these attacks further tarnish the image of the Tunisian regime. It’s telling that the government would unleash these tactics as it prepares for elections. Truly democratic nations don’t beat, harass, and jail reporters.”
–via As Tunisian Elections Near

There is one thing I know for sure, there will be those who will push to see democratization and liberalization continue, and they will not be silenced. All we can do is support them in any way they need.