Morocco: More Condemnations

In response to Le Journal‘s shutdown as well as the recent arrest of Moroccan blogger Boubaker Al-Yadib, Freedom House released a statement strongly denouncing the government’s “use of exorbitant fines and libel cases to silence Morocco’s critics.” According to Freedom House advocacy directory Paula Schriefer, Al-Yadib’s arrest and subsequent six-month sentence was in response to his role in organizing a week-long blogging strike to protest restrictions on free expression. Courtney C. Radsch, Senior Program Officer for the Global Freedom of Expression campaign, sees this as an example of rank governmental hypocrisy: “Morocco retaliates against journalists for publishing,” she says, referring to Le Journal, “but then attacks bloggers for refusing to publish.”

Morocco is rated by Freedom House as “Partly Free” in its 2010 edition of “Freedom in the World,” a report that focuses on civil and political rights (coverage of its release found here). In the most recent edition of “Freedom of the Press,” however, Morocco earned a significantly lower score of “Not Free.”