The Rabat Court of Appeal halved, on Monday, February 20, the three-year prison sentence imposed on human rights defender Rida Benotmane, his lawyer said on Tuesday. "The sentence has been reduced to a year and a half in prison," said AFP Me Mohamed Ennouini, who demanded the acquittal of Mr. Benotmane.
The latter, born in 1976, was arrested on September 9 following posts on YouTube and Facebook dating from August and September 2021. In particular, he called for a march against "human rights abuses committed by security forces “, according to Amnesty International.
The Rabat court of first instance sentenced him in November to three years in prison, in particular for "insulting public officials in the exercise of their functions". During his trial in the Court of Appeal, his defense asked for the charges to be dropped in the name of "freedom of opinion and expression". Amnesty and the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), of which he is a member, had demanded the immediate release of this activist.
Several Moroccan activists have recently been sentenced for comments critical of the authorities and the political class on social networks. Yassine Benchekroune, a committed Internet user, was sentenced at the beginning of the month to two years in prison for "insulting a constituted body and a constitutional institution", according to local media.
Saïda El Alami received a three-year prison sentence in September after being charged with "insulting a corporate body" and "disseminating false allegations or untruthful facts" following Facebook posts deemed offensive. . At the same time, another Internet user, Fatima Karim, was sentenced in mid-September to two years in prison for "undermining Islam" after commenting in a satirical mode on verses from the Koran and hadiths of the prophet on Facebook.
