Report on Media in Morocco - Arab Center for the Rule of Law and ...

started getting out of the "silence zone" 35 , as one of the journalists said, this change
still has its limits. Journalists are still enjoying an effective freedom of speech without
the fear of any oppression, and are still enjoying sufficient legal protection to perform
their duties, as confirmed by 71% of those who participated in the experts’ opinion
poll, and 50.4% of whose who took part in the public opinion poll (32bis). This can be
noticed at both the legal and practical levels.
On the legal level, we note that although legal restrictions of the media in Morocco
have been eased, whether through the amendment of the Law on Press which
reaffirmed the freedom of publishing newspapers, printing and publication, and the
elimination of some conditions that restricted freedom in the previous law, or through
the formation of the Supreme Commission for Audio-Visual Communication, the
promulgation of the Audio-Visual Communication Law that rendered this type of
media free (Article 3), and the cessation of the State's monopoly of the audio-visual
communication, some constraints remained imposed on the freedom of the media.
If the Constitution itself still includes some restrictions in this field, particularly when
it stipulates for the prohibition of discussing royal speeches (Article 28), most of these
restrictions are included in the laws that regulate the media.
In the written press, these restrictions are revealed by the following elements:
- Obliging the manager of the newspaper to disclose the professional secret and
reveal to the King's undersecretary the real identity of the article's writer in case a
complaint is filed against the author of an unsigned article or an article that bears a
pseudonym. (Article 17).
- Giving the Minister of Communications the right to prohibit all newspapers, as
well as periodical or non-periodical prints published abroad from entering
Morocco when he believes that they offend Islam, the monarchy or the territorial
integrity, or include material that lacks the respect due to the King or the public
order, in addition to giving him the right to ban any foreign newspaper printed
inside Morocco for the same reasons (Article 29).
- Imposing a sentence of imprisonment that ranges between 3 to 5 years and a fine
assessed between 10,000 and 1,000,000 Dirhams for lacking the respect due to the
King, princes or princesses, or for offending Islam or threatening the monarchy or
the territorial integrity, with the possibility of suspending the newspaper or the
publication by virtue of the same judgment for a period not exceeding three
months (Article 41).
- Imposing a prison sentence and a fine for public defamation against heads of
states, prime ministers and foreign ministers of foreign countries and their dignity
(Article 52), or against foreign diplomatic representatives or consuls accredited or
officially delegated before the King (Article 53).
- Giving the Minister of Interior the right to issue a justified decision of
administrative seizure of every issue of a newspaper or periodical that breaches
the public order or the respect due to the King, princes or princesses, or offends
Islam, or threatens the monarchy or the territorial integrity.
What is more interesting in these restrictions included in the Press Law is that they are
based on general and ambiguous reasons, since it is not really clear what is meant by
offending Islam or threatening the monarchy, and when there is offense and threat and
35 Al-Arabi al-Masari: "Rationing the Freedom of the Press and Media in Morocco", an intervention
during the international debate on media and truth, Rabat on March 1,2,3, 2003.