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

- Stipulate the supremacy of international instruments over the internal law, and not
ensure the adequacy of the latter with the instruments.
- Eliminate article 28 that bans the discussion of royal speeches that the King
delivers before the Parliament.
- Stipulate the right to guarantee the right to access news and information.
1-2 Press and Publishing Law:
- Render it void of all the freedom-depriving sanctions, except for those related to
provoking violence, terrorism, theft, apartheid and racial discrimination.
- Eliminate all red lines set by this law facing the freedom of press under the form
of "sacrificials", which is defined in the monarchy, Islam and territorial integrity,
and "be contented with swearing and libel against the King, which is a practice
that should be banned and fined." 137
- Eliminate all the clichés and elastic terms in this law, in terms of the public order,
harm the youth, abuse of the monarchy, territorial integrity and Islam, as the
generality of these concepts might render them interpretable in order to oppress
and hinder freedom.
- Swearing and defamation with ill-intention should be the object of lawsuit and
punishment.
- Render the judiciary as the competent authority with respect to seizure instead of
the Ministry of Interior, as is the case now, and stipulate that it should be based on
a judicial verdict.
- Remove the constraints imposed on the entrance of foreign press to Morocco, and
abolish the possibility that the Minister of Communications could ban or seize in
case it tampered with the "sacrificials", as called by the Law.
- Eliminate article 15 of this law that stipulates that the largest shareholder in the
media institution should be the publishing director of the newspaper.
- Eliminate article 17 that binds the publishing director, in case of filing a lawsuit
against an author of an unsigned article or that bears a pseudo-name, to notify the
King's general undersecretary about the real identity of the author.
- Stipulate that the Law of Press is implemented in all matters related to press. This
proposal derives its importance from the presence of press and publishing-related
matters that were referred to the implementation of the penal code in order to
enforce stricter sanctions 138 .
- Establish specialized judiciary in cases of press, opposite to all that is taking place
at present, where the files of these cases are grouped with files of other cases and
that are settled by unspecialized judges.
- Abolish the ambiguity in this law regarding the right to access information
through defining the content of the citizen's right to information and the State's
obligations in this regard. Organize the method of media's access to the sources of
news and the method of obtaining the information from different sources, as well
as the consequences resulting from the citizen's or the media's inability to enjoy
this right.
- Stipulate a certain limit that shall not be exceeded by the penalties imposed on the
journalists and journalistic institutions.
137 This is suggested by the National Union for Moroccan Press during its negotiations with the
Communications Ministry regarding the amendment of the Press Law.
138 This happened with journalist Ali al-Murabit when he was banned from writing for 10 years, in
accordance with the Penal Code and not the Law of Press.