Courts acquits journalists sued for slandering Spanish colleague

The court of appeal of Casablanca acquitted on Tuesday three journalists of "Aujourd'hui le Maroc" daily sued for slandering by a Spanish journalist.

The paper's editor, Khalil Hashimi Idrissi, and two other journalists, Omar Eddahbi and Abdallah Chankou, were accused by Ignacio Cembrero, correspondent of Spanish "El Pais" newspaper of slandering. They had published three articles between October 30 and November 1, 2002 that accused Cembrero of "spying and conspiring."

The court of first instance had sentenced the three journalists to pay the Spanish journalist 10,000 Dhs (nearly US $1,000) for damages and a fine of a similar amount.

However, the appeal court said it is not competent to rule on the compensation request filed by the Spanish journalist.