The human rights group Amnesty International is calling for releasing journalists imprisoned by the Morocco government, accusing the government of denying the reporters access to literacy materials so they can read and write.
Amnesty International, a human rights group, has spoken out against the imprisonment of Moroccan journalists Omar Radi, Soulaimane Raissouni, and Taoufik Bouachrine, sentenced to five, six, and 15 years in jail for sexual assault. 80-year-old human rights lawyer Mohamed Ziane also spoke out, calling the charges against him “bogus.” Rida Benotmane, a Moroccan Association for the Defence of Human Rights member, has been in solitary confinement since September 2022.
The group claims that authorities prohibited these detainees from writing or accessing their manuscripts. The prison authorities denied this, but Amnesty International insists that the detainees were denied their right to freedom of expression. The organization called on the Moroccan authorities to release journalists and academics imprisoned solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and ensure they had access to reading and writing materials. However, the Moroccan government maintained that authorities convicted the detainees in cases unrelated to freedom of expression.
Morocco has also fallen in the press freedom index, but the government claims that the media watchdog Reporters Without Borders is biased against them.
cc: Punch Ng
