Morocco: Cassation Court examines cases of jailed journalists

Rabat's court of cassation has accepted to examine the cases of Moroccan journalists Omar Radi, Imad Stitou and Soulaimane Raissouni, who were sentenced last year in two separate cases of sexual assault and espionage.

On Thursday, the Criminal Chamber of Rabat Court of Cassation officially started looking into the files of the three journalists, with a final decision set to be announced on 18 July.

"We hope that the Court of Cassation will put things back in order and that Suleiman and Omar will be tried in a fair trial and they will be able to prove their innocence," wrote Hajar Raissouni, Soulaimane's sister, after the court's decision.

Last year, Radi was sentenced on appeal to six years in prison on espionage and rape charges.

His trial began in 2020, just days after human rights group Amnesty International said Moroccan authorities had planted Pegasus spyware on his cellphone - a claim denied by Rabat.

The 36-year-old freelance journalist, a known vocal critic of the authorities, has insisted on his innocence throughout his two-year-long trial.

In the same case, fellow journalist Imad Stitou was sentenced to one year in prison.

Stitou, initially presented as the sole witness for the prosecution, was said to have been present with Radi when he allegedly raped a woman.

Stitou left Morocco for Tunisia and was tried in absentia.

حجزت محكمة النقض ملفي الصحافيين المعتقلين سليمان الريسوني وعمر الراضي، للمداولة لأجل إصدار القرار يوم 18 يوليوز 2023.
نتمنى أن تعيد محكمة النقض الأمور الى نصابها وأن يحاكم سليمان وعمر محاكمة عادلة وهما قادران على إثبات براءتهما.

— هاجر الريسوني hajar raissouni (@hajarraissounu) July 13, 2023

Meanwhile, Raissouni was arrested in May 2020 after a young LGBTQ+ activist pressed charges against him and became one of several journalists critical of Morocco's government to have been imprisoned for "sex crimes".

Last year, the Casablanca Court of Appeal upheld a five years sentence against the journalist. The 49-year-old columnist always maintained his innocence and said he is being prosecuted "because of his opinions".

The UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that Morocco's detention of Raissouni is "arbitrary" and called for his immediate release.

In early May, the rights group Amnesty International accused Morocco's prison system of denying jailed journalists and activists access to materials so they could read and write.

Media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has also expressed concern about "restrictive measures" placed on Radi.

The prison authorities have denounced such allegations as "lies" intended to blacken the country's human rights image at home and abroad.