His crime? Posting this article, part of which is translated here into English, on Hespress [Ar], in which he describes how the Moroccan King’s charity and gratuities towards his people benefits “the lucky sons and daughters of this country and overlooks the rest.”

He explained his point:

Countries which respect their citizens do not turn them into beggars under the feet of nobility. Instead, they develop factories and workshops for them to work in and earn their living with dignity. Even if we assume that such gratuities are only dispersed to deserving citizens such as the special needs and poor, which is impossible at any rate, this isn’t anything that makes Moroccan citizens proud. The right to work, health care and education are granted by the Constitution. Therefore, the state should provide decent means of living for its citizens - other than humiliating them in this shameless manner.

And bloggers around the region have been nodding their heads in agreement - for they might just as well substitute the name Morocco from the article and replace it with the name of their countries.

Who is Mohammed Erraji? Why did he write what he wrote knowing well that in many countries in the Middle East criticising members of the vast Ruling families is very likely to result in repercussions and punishment? Saudi blogger Fouad Al Farhan, who recently found himself behind bars for his writings in Saudi Arabia, visits Erraji’s blog looking for answers.

After learning about Erraji’s arrest, Al Farhan visits his blog:

I visited his blog for the first time and was eager to visit his first posts, which usually speak about the blogger’s view towards blogging and the reasons why he is joining this wave. They also explain what his ambitions are and what he hopes to achieve through blogging. I found him saying in one of his first posts:
“I want to fill the pages of this blog with all the ideas which are erupting in my hear like an active volcano at times, and like cool refreshing breezes at others. I want to sit for long hours in front of the computer. I want to write about everything in my private life, and about politics, sports, religion, about everything. I want to write without stopping …”

With these words the Moroccan blogger Mohammed Erraji started his journey in the world of blogging. This journey, which started and will never be erased from his memory, and the memory of his family and friends for the rest of their lives. Mohammed Erraji, like many of our creative youth, is someone we never pay attention to until tragedy strikes.

About Erraji, Al Farhan says:

محمد الراجي عمره ٢٩ عاماً وعمر مدونته سنة ونصف. لولا أنه ذكر بنفسه بأنه لم يتجاوز المرحلة السادسة في مستواه التعليمي لما صدقت. هو “أمازيغي وعربي في نفس الآن” كما عرف عن نفسه. أما توجهه الفكري فيلخصه كما يلي: “مستقل بأفكاري ولا أحب أن أكون تابعا لأحد ، عندما يكون لدي موقف من قضية ما ، أدافع عنه بشراسة، وفي المقابل أستمع بأذن صاغية الى الآخرين ، وأقبل الحوار مع الجميع ، عندما أختلف مع شخص ما ، أختلف معه حول أفكاره ومواقفه فقط ، وليست لدي خلافات شخصية مع أحد”. في آخر تدويناته يصرخ في وجه “الجبناء” كما أسماهم مطالباً “بحماية سمعة وطنه” الذي يحبه ويعشقه. أوطاننا العربية التي نعشقها ويحاول البعض بكل جد وإجتهاد وبكل طريقة ممكنة أن يفقدنا الأمل في إصلاحها إما بتهوين المخاطر التي نمر بها أو بإقناعنا بشرعية “الخطوط الحمراء” التي هي في الأصل خطوط حمراء تحمي “المستفيدين” من أوضاع حرياتنا المفقودة في أوطاننا العربية.

Mohammed Erraji is 29 years old and his blog is a year and a half old. If he hadn’t mentioned that he hasn’t exceeded the sixth grade at school, I wouldn’t have believed him. As he describes himself, he is “an Amazigh and an Arab at the same time.” He summarises his ideaology as: “I am of independent thought, and I don’t like to be anyone’s follower. When I have a certain stance towards an issue, I defend it ferociously. In return, I listen to others, accept dialogue with everybody, and when I disagree with someone, I disagree with their thoughts and stances only, and I have no personal conflicts with anyone.” In one of his last posts, he screams in the face of “cowards,” as he called them, urging them to “protect the reputation of his nation,” which he loves - our Arab nation which we love, which some are exerting all their efforts, in every manner available to them, to make us lose hope in reforming it, either by exaggerating the dangers we are facing, or convincing us of the legality of the “red lines” which are in reality red lines which protect those benefiting from our lost freedom in our Arab world.

Al Farhan says he spent the entire day reading Erraji’s blog. He notes:

أعجبني نقده وأفكاره وإستقرائه وحججه وقوة لغته. أعجبتني جرأته وتسميته الأشياء بأسمائها. وجدته يعبر عن وجهة نظره بكل صراحة حول الإرهاب وغيرته على الإسلام من تصرفات المتطرفين وأطروحاتهم. تناول “أسامة بن لادن” بالإسم ونقده وأختار أن لا يؤجر عقله لكل من يستغل سوء أوضاعنا بطرح حلول تدميريه وإرهابية لا تقود إلا لمجتمعات خوف وعنف وظلام.
محمد الراجي لم يختبيء تحت معرفات وهمية في منتديات الإنترنت ليعبر عن رأيه بطرح متطرف أو صراخ لا يسمن ولا يغني من جوع. محمد الراجي فهم التدوين جيداً ولديه ثقة إيجابيه في ذاته وعقله وفكره نهلها من محيطه العائلي وتربيته التي يفتخر بها.
ولذلك قرر محمد الراجي أن يدون.

I admired his criticism, thoughts, analysis, arguments, and the beauty of his language. I admired his courage in calling things by their names. I found him expressing his ideas about terrorism and his concern over Islam and the reactions of extremists and what they do candidly. He wrote about Osama bin Laden, calling him by his name, and criticised him. He chose not to sell his mind to those who abuse our situation by suggesting terrorist solutions, which only lead societies to fear, violence and darkness.
Mohammed Erraji did not hide behind pseudonyms on Internet forums to express an extreme opinion or scream nonsense. Mohammed Erraji understood blogging for what it is, and has a positive confidence in himself and thoughts, which he learned from his family and upbringing, which he is proud of. This is why Mohammed Erraji decided to blog.

According to Al Farhan, had Erraji decided not to blog, his options would have been:

1. المضي في حياته اليومية بحثاً عن لقمة عيشه فاقداً الأمل في إمكانية أن يحدث تعبيره عن رأيه أي فرق في تحسين الواقع أو إيضاح مواطن الظلم. وبذلك ينضم للملايين من الشباب العربي المحبط
2. تأجير عقله لمتطرف يقول له بأن حمل السلاح والعنف هو الحل والمخرج من هذا الواقع العربي المظلم مثلما فعل الكثير من الشباب العربي المحبط أيضاً للأسف الشديد.
3. البحث عن مواطن أخرى ليخرج “كل الغضب الذي يتزاحم في صدره مثل حمم بركان هائج” من مخدرات وحشيش ومتع مدمرة وقع فيها الملايين من الشباب العربي المحبط.

1. Continue with his life earning a living without any hope that expressing his idea would improve reality and highlight where injustice is. This way he will be ones of the millions of depressed young Arabs
2. Renting his mind to an extremist who will ask him to carry arms and commit violence as a means to get out of this unjust Arab reality, as many young men have unfortuneately done.
3. Finding other avenues to express all this anger raging inside him like a volcano such as drugs and hashish and other dangerous entertainments which have claimed millions of young depressed Arabs.

Al Farhan explains that Erraji rejected all those options and immersed himself into blogging instead.

Turning his attention to the allergy of some governments towards freedom of expression, Al Farhan writes:

مشكلة الحكومات العربية مع الجيل الجديد من الشباب أنها لم تستوعب بعد أن الوقت تغير. هذا الجيل مشتعل بالغيرة وببراكين الغضب والأسئلة التي تتزاحم في عقله تبحث عن إجابات لحال وضعنا العربي المحبط.

The problem with Arab governments with the new generation of young people is that they have not grasped that times have changes. This generation is fired up with feelings towards their nation, with overflowing volcanoes of anger and questions rushing in their heads looking for solutions for our depressing conditions as Arabs.

In explaining how the world has changed, Al Farhan says:

في زمن ما، كان العربي في المغرب يسمع عن ما يحصل في المشرق عن طريق إذاعة لندن أو مونت كارلو أو صحيفة بائتة هنا أو هناك. بعد عالم الإنترنت، أصبحنا نعرف كل صغيرة وكبيرة إما عن طريق الفضائيات أو الإذاعات أو مواقع الإنترنت أو البريد الإلكتروني أو تويتر أو الفيسبوك. لم يعد هناك شيء مخفي.

Early on, Arabs in the Maghreb used to hear about what was happening in the East though the radio stations of London or Monte Carlo or old newspapers from here and there. After the Internet, we now know everything happening through satellite channels, radio stations, websites, email, Twitter and Facebook. There is nothing which can be hidden anymore.

Access to the Internet, adds Al Farhan, has made the world a different place. He therefore asks:

إذا كانوا لا يريدون منا أن نحلم وأن نتكلم ونطرح أفكارنا وأحلامنا للحوار والنقاش فلماذا يسمحون بإدخال الإنترنت في بلداننا العربية؟

If they did not want us to dream and speak and express our ideas and aspirations in dialogues or discuss them, why have they allowed the Internet into our Arab countries?

And yet, journalists are all too frequently fined or arrested, and yesterday a blogger, Mohammed Raji, joined their ranks. The blogger was arrested yesterday afternoon for insulting the king, and was immediately tried and sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of MAD 5,000 (about $625). The Moroccan blogosphere, lively as ever, has rallied around Raji.

A Moro in America, whose blog was among the first to report the story, offers a critique of Morocco’s hypocritical handling of the press and bloggers:

Apparently the Moroccan Internet Police, which apparently is doing a great job following up on the Moroccan blogosphere, is not fully aware of the scale of media echo arresting a blogger can generate. That’s either because they work for their superiors who belong to the pen-and-paper era, and still see the Internet as nothing but a virtual world, or they are blinded by their fervor and ambition to receive reward for making such “a big bust.”
They don’t realize that they unintentionally propel Morocco to the list of top violators of freedom of speech on the net.
Even worse, it reveals a pattern of mishandling of the issue of Moroccans expressing their opinions online. It started with blocking access to video-sharing website YouTube and Google Earth, the arrest of the so-called fake Facebook prince, Fuad Mourtada, and now with sentencing Blogger Raji to two years in prison. Most probably this case will end with the same scenario as it did with Fuad Mourtada. The police made the arrest. The news made it all over the world, tarnishing the image of modern Morocco in full democratic transition, and then the suspect gets a royal pardon on the Eid’s eve. It’s called self-inflicted negative publicity that Morocco ends up getting from such high-profile cases.
The Moroccan judiciary and the Internet Police still involve Moroccan in big profile arrests of opinion.

Author and blogger Laila Lalami makes a necessary point:

The arrest marks the first time anyone has been arrested for a blog post in Morocco, and, given the Moroccan government’s touchiness, I can guarantee it is not the last time. But I would like to make one small point: Erraji’s criticism is quite mild compared with what one can read in such French-language Moroccan magazines as Tel Quel or Le Journal. But these publications enjoy the support of many international groups (such as Reporters Without Borders) and so the government often has to think twice before arresting one of their journalists or editors. But because Erraji writes in Arabic, and because he writes for Hespress, a website whose quality is quite questionable (it’s very populist and sometimes inaccurate), and because he is not part of the connected elite, his right to freedom of expression has simply been denied and his case has been even more bungled than usual.

A website has been set up to defend Erraji: Help Erraji. I wish there was also a website to help Morocco get a clue on press freedom.

Citoyen Hmida, remarking on the case [fr], says:

Où est le mal dans tout celà?

Dans l’introduction du billet, peut-être qui reprendrait une anecdote dont un quotidien aurait déjà fait l’écho!

Y a-t-il matière à délit? Y a-t-il matière à action publique?

Y a-t-il matière à remettre en cause un équilibre fragile entre la liberté de parole et la volonté de certaines institutions de défendre la monarchie que personne ne remet en cause?

Espérons que toute cette histoire n’est qu’un vaste malentendu!

Au delà de la personne de Mohamed Erraji et des idées qu’il peut exprimer, le MAROC n’a pas besoin d’une nouvelle fausse affaire.

Des problèmes bien plus sérieux nous attendent….

Where is the harm in all this?

In the introduction to the article, maybe he should have incorporated an anecdote which a newspaper has already repeated!

Can the crime be substantiated? Is there cause to take public action?

Is it justified to challenge a delicate balance between freedom of speech and the desire of certain institutions to defend the monarchy that nobody questions?

Let us hope that this whole story is a vast misunderstanding!

Beyond Mohamed Erraji and the ideas he has expressed, MOROCCO did not need a new trumped up case.

Far more serious problems lie ahead….

Finally, Ibn Kafka has compiled a comprehensive list [fr] of bloggers discussing Raji’s case, as well as links to various articles about Morocco’s press freedom (or lack thereof). He also notes that, technically, Raji got off easy:

…On notera cependant que Mohammed Erraji a bénéficié de la mansuétude légendaire de la justice marocaine, puisqu’il n’a été condamné qu’à deux années d’emprisonnement, alors que le minimum encouru pour cette infraction est trois ans et le maximum cinq ans. Cela signifie en théorie - en pratique les juges font ce qu’il leur chante - que des circonstances atténuantes lui ont été accordées - lesquelles?

…It should be noted, however, that Mohammed Erraji has benefited from the legendary leniency of Moroccan justice, and has since been sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, whereas the minimum incurred for this offense is three years, maximum five years. This means that in theory (in practice, judges practice what they preach), extenuating circumstances were taken into account - but which ones?

This morning, it was reported by the electronic news site Hespress [ar] that blogger Mohammed Raji was arrested in his home in Agadir.  An article that Raji had posted on Hespress [ar] is said to be the source of the conflict, though neither that fact nor Raji’s arrest have been confirmed outside of the blogosphere.

Morocco’s often-critized press law prohibits criticizing of the monarchy; In Raji’s article, which has been translated here by Amira al Hussaini, he claims that the King’s charity toward his people encourages them to remain helpless rather than work hard.  His concluding paragraph reads:

وعندما يرى ولي العهد الصغير الذي سيتولى الحكم في يوم من الأيام كيف أن والده يوزع الهبات والاكراميات والكريمات على الناس بمجرد سماع كلمة إطراء أو مدح ، فلا شك أنه سيتصرف بنفس “المنطق” عندما يحكم ، لذلك فما علينا سوى أن نؤجل أحلامنا بمغرب المساواة وتكافؤ الفرص لغاية حكم الملك محمد السابع الذي سيأتي بعد الحسن الثالث اللي هو ولي العهد حاليا!

A Moroccan About the World Around Him explains the context of the article, saying:

Mohamed’s article, written in Arabic and titled “The King Indulges His Subjects’ dependency,” dealt with the concept of what Moroccans colloquially call “GRIMA”, from the French word “agrément” meaning “an administrative authorization.” Giving ”administrative authorizations” has been a long standing royal tradition in Morocco. Needless to say, such authorizations allow the beneficiary to bypass all set administrative procedures; they discredit all laws and regulations designed to regulate such procedures. But the concept is so ingrained in the Moroccan psyche that you often here Moroccans from all walks of life pray: “May Allah give us a “GRIMA” from Sidna.”

Other bloggers, including A Moroccan in Washington, D.C., zalamite, and Larbi [fr] have covered the story as well.

Hespress has reported that Raji has already been given an expedited hearing and judgement and was sentenced to 2 years in jail as well as fined MAD 5,000 (USD $625). Larbi explains:

Dans un jugement expéditif digne des pays les plus totalitaires au monde, le Tribunal d’Agadir a condamné ce lundi le bloggeur marocain Mohamed Erraji à deux ans de prison ferme et 5000 Dhs d’amendes pour « manquement au respect dû au roi ».

A petition for Mohammed Raji’s freedom has already been posted here and a Facebook group has been created.

Bloggers in Morocco immediately expressed outrage at Mourtada’s arrest and sentencing and continue to do so. Here are a few examples of what the blogoma is saying:

A Moroccan About the World Around Him, a newcomer to the blogoma, has some advice for Mourtada’s prosecutors:

Here is a book I would like to recommend to the prosecutor who indicted Fouad Mourtada on charges of identity theft because he created a fake Facebook profile of HRH Prince Moulay Rachid and the Kafkaesque judge who sentenced him to three years of prison. It is Charles Baxter’s latest and by far his best novel since he started publishing in 1987. The title is “THE SOUL THIEF.” The story tackles the issue of identity and its ownership as the life of a tepid protagonist, graduate student Nathaniel Mason, collides with fellow student Jerome Coolberg’s. The latter is described as a psychopathic attention-seeking and disconcerting individual who becomes obsessed by the persona of Nathaniel. He insidiously, yet cunningly, starts incorporating details of Nathaniel’s life into his own life history; with the complicity of a friend named Theresa, he even hired a thief to break into his room and steal his clothes; he would later put them on and strut in front of Nathaniel mimicking his mannerisms not in a comedic way, but rather seriously. Nathaniel finally succumbs to a breakdown. It takes him thirty years to recover his soul which he feels it was “mortgaged.”

The blogger concludes, “The true victim here is Fouad; he is literally robbed of his life.”

Prolific blogger Myrtus has a permanent post at the top of her blog that will not go away until Mourtada is free, which includes a March 13 update from the Free Fouad Mourtada Committee.

Francophone blogger Larbi has a call for support on his blog:

If you would like to show your support and solidarity, wherever you are, please take a picture of yourself with a sign that includes your message of solidarity with Fouad. Please send the picture to: larbiblog@gmail.com . Please include your name (or nickname) and the name of your city/country…..

Many readers have already sent in photographs. An example from Tokyo:

Ironically, reminds us that the 43rd day of Mourtada’s incarceration is upon us:

Ce n’est pas vraiment en accord avec le but de ce blog, je l’avoue. Mais ce qui arrive à Fouad Mourtada est tellement stupide et malheureux que je me fais , de temps en temps , le relai du comité de soutien.
Aujourd’hui, c’est son 43ème jour de détention…

This is not really in line with the goal of this blog, I know. But what has happened to Fouad Mourtada is so stupid and sad that I will, from time to time, take it upon myself to be a liaison for his campaign. Today is [Mourtada’s] 43rd day of detention…

For more information on Fouad Mourtada’s case, visit the Free Fouad Mourtada page. This BBC article is also recommended reading.

As Sami Ben Gharbia reported on Global Voices Advocacy last week, Mourtada was arrested on February 5 after Moroccan authorities discovered his false Facebook profile of the member of the royal family. And on February 22, he was sentenced to three years in prison (and had to pay a $1,000 fine). Bloggers in Morocco and around the world were furious.

Laila Lalami, who also wrote an opinion piece on Mourtada at The Nation, blogged that she “hoped cooler heads [would] prevail” at the trial. Myrtus, who joined bloggers who went on strike for Mourtada, said:

The verdict is out: A giant leap backwards for you Morocco, I hope you’re happy with yourself!

…

I am a second generation Moroccan-Dutch citizen, and I am a traditionalist. I’ve always been proud of my Moroccan roots and I’ve always respected Morocco’s constitutional monarchy as an integral part of our national unity and a great source of pride, and held it in high regard. This is the first time in my life that I can honestly say, that sense of pride has been diminished. I feel only sadness and loss of hope with regards to Morocco.

Four Continents was appalled as well, saying:

If you value free speech…then check this out and then pass on the news. Facebook-impersonation shouldn’t be a crime.

Also, Le Journal Hebdo has its website blocked again and is facing more fines for something they published about Western Sahara. I don’t have details, but Scarlett’s been in touch with them and I’ll link to details if she posts any.

One commenter found the legal aspect of the case intriguing:

Though most invasion-of-privacy law does come from civil actions rather than criminal, I think criminal statutes protecting privacy draw pretty heavily on civil tort concepts.

In particular, the tort of “misappropriation of persona” (protecting name and likeness) does not require any monetary benefit on the part of the invader, mooting a defense of noncommercial motive.

With regard to First Amendment rights, though, it’s usually the press violating someone’s privacy, and there is strong precedent for public officials and public figures being exempt from privacy protections in the face of the media’s First Amendment privilege.

By contrast, framing it as a matter of free speech makes it one individual against another, and you lose the compelling public interest of an unfettered news media. I’m not sure if the exemption for public officials and public figures would apply as strongly in this context. Unfortunate situation for the guy, but an interesting legal question.

Reb, who is researching the Moroccan blogoma, said in her blog:

I was saddened to hear that Fouad was sentenced to 3 years despite the campaign waged by Moroccan bloggers. I know Fouad is going to prison and these words will not console his friends and family but the bloggers that spoke up on his behalf should not lose faith. The efforts of the blogoma were not invisible to the local or international press and this movement will inspire more people to speak up for others with marginalized voices or for causes in which they believe. My best wishes for Fouad and his mother.

Outside of Morocco, The Sudanese Thinker was just as shocked as any Moroccan blogger:

Someone please tell me this isn’t real.

Andrew Brehm commented:

My take is that the Moroccon government simply didn’t take into account that it was a joke and just saw someone trying to impersonate the prince. Three years is mild punishment for what they thought they saw.

However, three years (or any prison term) is unacceptable for a joke, no matter how tasteless one might think it is.

So while I am not worried about Morocco’s justice system because of it, I am worried about this single example. I think they made a mistake and he should be set free. (The fine, on the other hand, I think is justifiable.)

Another commenter, Mike responded:

Andrew commented “So while I am not worried about Morocco’s justice system because of it, “…. You shoudl [sic] be. This is a system that routinely allows and abuse of detainees before trial. Once you get to trial then it’s about who you know and not what you know.

From Jordan, The Black Iris is also outraged:

I’ve been following this story since early February and waiting to see if and when Mourtada would be charged by the Moroccan government for creating a Facebook profile of Morocco’s Crown Prince. I had initially thought he would eventually be let go for such a silly thing, since it wasn’t like he was blogging about political issues. It was, as he said, a little joke and the account was deleted. But it seems that in Morocco, just like Jordan, it is really, really easy to harm the dignity of the state. Imagine three years of your life completely taken away from you for this ‘crime’. My prayers are with you Mourtada.

For more information on Mourtada’s case, Lydia Beyoud has a roundup of French-language Moroccan blogs, Gawker has an interesting report, the Help Fouad website is constantly being updated, and Reuters is tracking the story. And of course, check Global Voices Advocacy for updates.

Fouad Mourtada, a 26-year old IT engineer has been held under arrest in Casablanca since February 5th for “villainous practices linked to the alleged theft of the identity” of King Mohammed VI’s younger brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, on the popular social networking website Facebook. Fouad appeared in court on Friday February 15th. The trial has been postponed until February 22.

According to a statement released by the Committee of Support for Fouad Mourtada, following the first visit to Fouad on February 12th at Oukacha jail in Casablanca, Fouad provided more information about the circumstances of the arrest and claimed he was “beaten, spat on and insulted”:

I was arrested on the morning of Tuesday by two individuals who embarked me on a vehicle then blindfolded my eyes with a black band. After about fifteen minutes, they changed vehicles, then took me along to some building to undergo an interrogation there. I was persecuted, beaten up, slapped, spat on and insulted. I was also slammed for hours with a tool on the head and the legs. This calvary lasted such a long time that I lost consciousness several times and also lost the notion of time. I was completely surprised to learn, when I was taken again to another location, that it was Wednesday.

In the same statement, Mourtada stressed that he created the Facebook account of Prince Moulay Rachid as a joke. It’s not clear how the Moroccan police found out who was behind the account or whether there was any kind of collaboration between Facebook and the police.

I actually created this account on January 15, 2008. It remained online a few days before somebody closed it. There are so many profiles of celebrities on Facebook. I never thought that by creating a profile of his highness prince Moulay Rachid I was harming him in any way. I, as a matter of fact, did not send any message from that account to anyone. It was just a joke, a gag. I regret my gesture and beg my forgiveness from my whole family for the harm that I have caused them.

Fouad Mourtada could face five years in prison “for having done what thousands of people throughout the world do everyday: Create a profile of a celebrity or a star on Facebook,” his lawyer Ali Ammar said, adding: “This is a cultural problem. This is the first time that a Moroccan poses as a very important personality on the Internet (…) This is already a common practice in Europe and the United States.”

“There are on Facebook 41 Nicolas Sarkozy, 10 prince William of England, Many Jacques Chirac (former French president), Roger Federer, George Bush, Osama bin Laden” lamented Fouad’s sister, Amina Mourtada, in the Facebook group “Help Fouad Mourtada” she created to campaign for his release. So far, 1636 members have joined the group and 1807 other have signed the Help Fouad petition.

Today, the Moroccan blogosphere is showing its solidarity with Fouad and his family. Many prominent Moroccan bloggers are on strike, such as Ibn Kafka, Larbi.org, Lionne d’Atlas, Fhamator, Ayoub, 7didane, Jihane, Eatbees, Laïla Lalami, Reda, Farid Taha. Many of them are displaying this text:

Today, Tuesday, February 19, is the fourteenth day of Fouad Mourtada’s imprisonment. He committed the error, but not the crime, of creating a Facebook account in the name of Prince Moulay Rachid. This account contained no insults against the Prince nor was it the instrument of any swindling attempts. His name was immediately given wide publicity by the authorities, in breach of the presumption of innocence he’s supposed to enjoy, and he alleges having been beaten and mishandled during his arrest. He initially had trouble finding a lawyer willing to defend him. The trial, due to begin on February 15, has been postponed to February 22, while his habeas corpus application has been rejected.

(…)

For this reason, this blog will be on strike on Tuesday, 19 February as a gesture of solidarity with Fouad Mourtada and the other prisoners of opinion currently jailed in Morocco.

Moi, dans tous mes états (fr) summarized freedom of internet (as well as other forms of media) in a recent post:

A l’heure des podcasts et autres émissions sur le réseau internet, la régulation est un leurre.

« Et nous sommes arrivés à la même conclusion : la bataille de la régulation sur Internet est perdue d’avance » dixit Ahmed Ghazali. Le choix de plus en plus multiples d’émissions et de chaînes impose aux opérateurs marocains plus d’audace dans la concrétisation de ce projet.

In the age of podcasts and other shows on the internet, regulation is a decoy.”And we’ve arrived at the same conclusion: the battle for regulation of the internet is already lost” said Ahmed Ghazali. The growing choice of all sorts of shows and channels imposes greater audacity in the concretion of this project for Moroccan operators [media producers].”

Censorship of opposition voices from the Western Sahara also remains an issue, with many blogs from that region being blocked in the rest of Morocco. Freedom Writer quoted a recent MAP (Maghreb Arab Presse) article, while asvdh commented upon a Human Rights Watch article regarding freedom of expression in Western Sahara.

Although an article by AFP suggests that Moroccan bloggers have more freedom than those in other Arab and Muslim countries, the fact that Livejournal is still frequently inaccessible proves that there’s still a ways to go. According to MoTIC, who keeps a tab at the top of his site, Google Maps and Google Earth remain blocked as well. A post by Matthew Helmke mentions other blocked sites such as OpenDNS, anonymizer.com, multiproxy.org, “and on occasion You Tube.”

Moroccan Internet users launched several online petitions and other initiatives to protest this violation of their right to free access to information. I spoke with professor and researcher Mohamed Drissi Bakhkhat, the leading Moroccan blogger who is running MoTIC blog and EcoMaroc. Mohamed is doing an amazing job of documenting the Internet filtering situation in Morocco and raising awareness about the Moroccan Media and the impact of new information and communication technologies (NTIC). 

Sami: Mohamed, how do you explain the censorship that is targeting top websites such as like Google Earth, Google Maps, Youtube and Livejournal?

Mohamed Drissi Bakhkhat: Your guess would be as good as mine… Unlike what is happening under the worst authoritarian regimes, where Internet censorship is most of the time official and censored content is generally publicly known, Internet censorship in Morocco is meant to be hidden. This clearly serves one main purpose, that of allowing this censorship to be arbitrary and to remain at the discretion of the Makhzen. Otherwise, banning any website or service would have to be justified and follow a judicial procedure. Websites would not be blocked for absurd reasons as it is the case today. The Makhzen tries to avoid being held accountable for these decisions. It has its own laws that have nothing to do Moroccan law.

As you said, the blocking of Live Journal in Morocco dates back to early 2006. It is one of the main and first blocking decisions taken in the ADSL era. Live Journal is surely not banned because of its innocuous blogging feature. Its combination with other social networking features is probably what embarrasses more the Makhzen, or, should I say, embarrassed. I am sure that this decision is outdated. With the current development of social networking services, Morocco can not afford to block them all. I think that Live Journal’s ban has not been lifted because nobody questions the Makhzen’s decisions, particularly when these seem to be motivated by the defense of Morocco’s interests, since Live Journal hosts some separatists blogs. No one can tell if this is really what motivated the ban, or if the Makhzen targeted social networking. As for Google Earth, I am almost certain that its ban in Morocco is not a security issue. Again, it is the community feature of Google Earth that is clearly being targeted. Google Earth’s satellite images remain easily accessible to anyone who wants to get them. But Google Earth community can be used to easily and efficiently share or coordinate information, for example, about some places that are meant to remain secret. The Makhzen is apparently playing «hide and (don’t) seek». And finally, nothing indicates that YouTube’s four-day ban was the Makhzen’s decision. That is why Maroc Telecom backed down so quickly. Interestingly, Youtube’s IPs remained unblocked during that period. Someone in Maroc Telecom just messed up with DNS servers for an unknown reason. It might well be a personal reason. It becomes a possibility when censorship is arbitrary and when it violates the law. Officially, no one recognizes Net censorship in Morocco!

Sami: The ONI report on Morocco concluded that “relative to the region, Moroccan Internet access is relatively free”. However, compared with other North African countries like Tunisia and Libya where the censors are targeting the websites of political opposition groups, anti-government news and views, Morocco seems to be more interested in blocking access to major websites. How would you describe that? And how do you assess the general filtering and censorship situation in your country? 

Mohamed: The least one can say is that Morocco’s Internet censorship decisions are awkward. They are spectacular and target viciously some great services that are not banned in the worst Internet black holes! Besides Morocco, how many countries block access to Google Earth or Google Maps? This is indescribable and a shame for a country that is claiming to be implementing democratic reforms.

This being said, Internet censorship in Morocco seems to be nonetheless generally lighter than that in Tunisia because of the rather big difference in political freedom or when one compares freedom of speech situations in the two countries. I do not hear or read a lot about Net censorship in Libya or Algeria, probably because Internet access (mainly broadband) penetration rates there are lower.

Sami: What was the reaction of the Moroccan Internet users in general and the blogosphere in particular vis-à-vis the censorship? Is there any kind of cyberactivism providing circumvention tools to the Internet users?

Mohamed: Moroccan Internet users or bloggers are mainly and clearly against Net censorship, if we judge by the number of posts and comments. MoTIC access stats showed that the number of visitors nearly doubled in the wake of the news about YouTube’s ban in late May 2007. This demonstrates that Moroccans care a lot about censorship. They reacted very quickly and started discussing ways to heighten the pressure on Maroc Telecom and on the Moroccan government, or whoever is behind these decisions. Many looked to be convinced that previous censorship decisions were, or at least looked to be, security related. This was obviously not the case for YouTube. That was what triggered the reaction of Internet users and most of the bloggers, even those who were rather lenient toward other unjustifiable censorship decisions. YouTube’s ban generated a large wave of protests against Net censorship in Morocco, not only that of YouTube, but also that of Google Earth, Live Journal, and other sites. Some bloggers provided some easy ways to bypass censorship. Given the current situation, I personally prefer denouncing censorship and showing that it can easily be bypassed. I let Internet users look for ways to achieve that.

We are just at the beginning. The best is yet to come for cyberactivism in Morocco, when Internet will be more widespread and people more aware of what is really being censored and for what reasons.

Sami: On the MoTIC blog you document the Internet filtering situation in the country, raising awareness of its consequences on the development of Morocco among Internet users. Does the information disseminated on your blog and elsewhere somehow help in attracting the attention of mainstream and/or citizen media inside and outside the country?

Mohamed: Absolutely. The discussions and the coordination of the actions on MoTIC, maghrebism.com, and other blogs resulted in the creation of petitions, two of them continue to raise awareness and get new signatures almost every day since five months now.

The unprecedented reaction throughout the Moroccan blogosphere inspired many articles in almost all of the Moroccan independent press: Al Massae, Al Ahdath Al Maghribia, Al Ayyam, Le Journal Hebdo (see also here ), Telquel… to name a few. Many of MoTIC’s posts inspired articles by Al Massae or Al Ahdath Al Maghribia, the two most popular Moroccan newspapers.

AMDH (Association Marocaine des Droits de l’Homme) wrote officially to Maroc Telecom asking for clarifications about YouTube’s inaccessibility for its subscribers. magharebia.com, the US European Command portal, wrote about YouTube’s ban.

Internationally, the mobilization against Net censorship in Morocco was covered in Associated Press newswires that were published in the most famous and prestigious US and British newspapers or media (The Washington Post, The New York Times, USAToday, CBS News, BusinessWeek, Forbes, The International Herald Tribune, …). There were also articles by The Guardian, The Times (London, England), and the BBC. John Oates of The Register wrote about YoutTube’s ban in Morocco. Ogle Earth, one of the most popular blogs about Google Earth also wrote about Google Earth’s ban in Morocco, once citing MoTIC.

For mysterious reasons, the French press remained and remains almost unanimously silent when it comes to Net censorship in Morocco, except for Marianne and Le Petit Journal. Maroc Telecom, the first actor of this censorship, is controlled by French media group Vivendi. Draw your own conclusions… Merci la France!

I would like to recognize here the great role played by Global Voices Online in helping us make this censorship known worldwide. Jillian York posted several times about Net censorship in Morocco which helped a lot in publicizing internationally this censorship and how Moroccan bloggers and Internet users are denouncing it.

Sami: Are you collaborating with other cyber activists and blogger from neighboring countries facing similar situations?

Mohamed: I do sometimes contact privately other bloggers, but collaboration is generally achieved publicly through blog posting and commenting. I would certainly encourage any collaboration with bloggers from other Arab countries. Our governments are not able to achieve strong Maghreb and Arab relations. I see no reason why this would not be possible to achieve among bloggers, who generally are open minded and willing to collaborate.

Sami: We’ve seen three (and maybe more) different petitions contesting the online censorship in Morocco (censureinternetaumaroc.com, stop-censure.org and petitiononline.com/morocco). Why the apparent lack of collaboration among those different initiatives?

Mohamed: We are talking about events that took place in just four days and without prior notice! YouTube’s ban began a Friday afternoon, a viciously chosen timing that is generally privileged by the Moroccan administration when it wants to take actions that are meant to take effect silently. But this did not work with such a popular site. The news about the ban spread very rapidly the same afternoon. Some popular bloggers started a strike the next day. Take a look at this post and the subsequent ones to have an idea of the scope of the reactions to YouTube’s ban.

As for the petitions, there was a lack of collaboration at the beginning. www.petitiononline.com/morocco was specifically against YouTube’s ban. It was Youssef’s (maghrebism.com) initiative. The other two petitions are against Net censorship in general and are spontaneous initiatives by MoTIC readers who coordinated their actions through comments posted on the blog. I gave them some advice and let them do all the work by themselves.

Sami: Have any bloggers or online writers in Morocco been jailed for their online activities? Are you witnessing a crackdown on online freedom of speech?

Mohamed: None that I am aware of. Compared with most Arab, African or Asian countries, we do have a great deal of free speech in Morocco, online and offline (despite some paper press cases). Bloggers probably enjoy free speech even more than paper press who generally censors itself.

There might be blogs or websites against the Moroccan regime that are censored for political reasons. I do not have a list of them, but there were reports in the press about continuous and dynamic blocking of separatist or extremist sites.

I won’t use the word “crackdown”, but we did notice since 2006 an important increase in the number of blocked websites and in the scope of Net censorship. Since 2006, Morocco started censoring important websites or services: Live Journal (since March 2006), Google Earth (since August 2006), Google Maps (since Summer 2007), and YouTube (May 25-29, 2007). Anonymization or DNS services like anonymizer.com, Multiproxy, and OpenDNS are also blocked. The question now is: what’s next?

Sami: Let’s talk a little bit about Morocco’s new hero, “Targuist Sniper“, who is using his video camera to shoot images of the daily corruption in the country, filming police officers, one after another, accepting baksheesh from drivers? What more can you tell us about this new phenomenon and what is the impact of such cyberactivism on the battle against corruption in the country?

Mohamed: It is sad to realize that it is probably a short-lived phenomenon. Moroccan police (Gendarmerie royale) conducted what the media described as a brutal search for the people behind Targuist Sniper videos. Four young Moroccans will appear in court as witnesses in the trials of the corrupt police officers. But they might well face charges of humiliation of the police institution because of the bad publicity it got from these videos. Nonsense! What is certain is that those truly responsible for the corruption will never have to worry about any consequences. Therefore, I don’t really think that Youtube snipers can significantly help in curbing corruption.