Court hands down 18 months to 2 years prison terms against four people, including 3 journalists
Morocco, Politics, 11/5/2003

The first instance court of Oujda (northeastern Morocco) handed down on Monday verdicts ranging between 18 months and 2 years in jail in the case of four persons, including 3 journalists, for charges of failure to observe respect due to the king, jeopardizing the monarchy system and inciting through publications to acts likely to endanger internal security.

The court sentenced Mustapha Qachnini, editor of "Al Hayat Al-Maghribya" newspaper, to 2 years in prison and ordered the newspaper suspension for 2 months. Two journalists at the same newspaper got 18 months in prison each.

On his part, Mohamed Abbadi, a member of the orientation council of the unauthorized "Al Adl Walihssane" association was sentenced to 2 years in jail.

The four co-defendants were also ordered to pay each a fine of 10,000 Dh (around US$ 1,000).

The group was prosecuted after "Al Hayate Al Maghribya" run articles advocating and praising terrorist acts, including those carried out last May 16 in Casablanca.

Previous Stories:
  King Mohammed dedicates inmates vocational training center in Casablanca   (11/1/2003)
  Court adjourns to January journalist case   (10/23/2003)
  Two extremists, three journalists jailed for 10 to 1 year   (8/6/2003)
  Moroccan journalist gets one-year suspended sentence   (7/14/2003)

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