9 Jul 2013 | Middle East and North Africa
Despite promising reform and introducing a new constitution in 2011, Morocco’s treatment of dissidents indicates the changes were just window dressing, Samia Errazzouki writes
Morocco’s King Mohammed VI announced a constitutional reform process during a 9 March 2011 speech, following popular protests organised by the 20 February Movement. Regime supporters and allies — France and the United States — hailed the move towards reform as “unprecedented.” Morocco was soon referred to as the “model for the region.”
But the government’s repression of freedom of expression has remained steadfast even after the new constitution.
Most recently, in March 2013 dissident rapperMouad Belghouat (alias El Haqed) was released from jail after he served his second, year-long prison sentence over his anti-regime lyrics, which were described as “undermining state authority.”
In February 2012, 18-year old Walid Bahomane was charged with “defaming Morocco’s sacred values” after he posted a caricature of Mohammed VI on Facebook. Even though he did not create the illustration, Bahomane was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison for the act of sharing the image.
In the same month, Abdessamad Hidour, an activist with the 20 February Movement faced similar charges after a video of him criticising Mohammed VI was uploaded on Youtube. In the video, he likened Mohammed VI’s reign to colonialism and railed against his corrupt practices, landing him a three-year prison sentence.
These are only a few cases out of many that have drawn widespread attention over the nature of the charges as well as the expedited trials that landed all those charged in jail.
Morocco’s latest constitution supposedly grants the right to freedom of expression, but it still leaves room for repression.
The king stacked the constitutional reform deck by appointing the committee to undertake the work. The reforms introduced some liberalisation, but did not address demands for democratisation of the system. It’s an old trick dating to the 1960s when Morocco’s first constitution was drafted following its independence from France.
The latest version of the constitution incorporates human rights language and places greater attention on the legal protection of free speech, such as the following:
- Article 10 grants the opposition the “freedom of opinion, expression, and of assembly.”
- Article 25 states that “The freedoms of thought, of opinion and of expression under all their forms are guaranteed.”
- Article 28 addresses the press, “The freedom of the press is guaranteed and may not be limited by any form of prior censure.”
Out of context, these articles stand as testaments for what regime supporters describe as “landmark reforms.” However in scrutiny and in practice, these articles have proved to be futile. In Article 28, for example, immediately after stipulating the guarantee of freedom of the press, there is a caveat that leaves this article open to interpretation: “All have the right to express and to disseminate freely and within the sole limits expressly provided by the law, information, ideas, and opinion.” Immediately, “freedom of the press” is limited to a legal framework dictated by the regime and this interpretation has come into play in various recent trials where freedom of speech and press has been threatened, especially in instances when the monarchy has been the target of criticism.
The regime’s response to free speech cases following constitutional reform is swift and relatively consistent, indicating no clear break from its past policies. Despite these violations of freedom of expression, Moroccans continue to express their dissent in multiple media, from online publications to protests on the streets, indicating that the regime’s alleged “path toward reforming” is long and winding.
Samia Errazzouki is a Moroccan-American writer and co-editor of Jadaliyya’s Maghreb Page.
8 Jul 2013 | Comment, Europe and Central Asia, In the News
Russia keeps adopting repressive laws that further restrict freedom of expression and other fundamental rights of its citizens, Andrei Aliaksandrau writes
President Vladimir Putin worked hard last Saturday, sacrificing his week-end to state affairs. He signed two laws, previously passed by the national parliament. The first one bans “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relationships”; it provides for heavy fines for “promotion of denial of traditional family values among minors.” The second law amends the Russian Criminal Code providing for up to one year in prison for “insult to religious feelings of believers.”
Adoption of both laws marks not only further deterioration of the freedom of expression situation in Russia, but also signals the country’s authorities ignore appeals from international community, human rights standards and their own international commitments.
Related
• Guest Post: International solidarity with Russian civil society is crucial
Last week Index together with 23 more human rights groups called the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) to condemn the “homosexual propaganda” bans. We reminded about the decision of the UN Human Rights Committee that found prohibition of “homosexual propaganda” in Ryazan Region of Russia violating Article 19(2) and Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The principles of that decision were later affirmed in the opinion of the Venice Commission, which considered that bans on “homosexual propaganda” are “incompatible with the ECHR and international human rights standards.”
On 27 June PACE called on Russia to reject the law. But only two days later President Putin inked it to show no one is allowed to interfere with his manner of ruling his “sovereign democracy.”
Another blow against the LGBT-community followed last Wednesday, when Vladimir Putin signed a law that bans adoption of Russian children by same-sex couples or even by citizens of countries where same-sex marriage is allowed.
One more legal act that received Putin’s signature on 3 July is the “anti-pirate” law aimed against web sites that illegally distribute copyrighted video content. It will come into force on 1 August 2013, despite criticism from key industry players. Leading web companies are concerned with provisions of the law that suggest corporate censorship.
“The law provides for a possibility of blocking of internet platforms by ISPs that we have always opposed to as it inevitably threatens resources of legal content distribution,” Svetlana Anurova, a representative of Google in Russia, told Digit.ru.
Russia keeps building repressive legislative network that restricts freedom of expression, as well as other fundamental rights. Previous legal initiatives brought to life included the notorious “foreign agent” law, aimed against NGOs that receive foreign funding, re-criminalisation of defamation, and creation of a blacklist of sites with “harmful” information under a pretext of child protection.
“Law-making the State Duma has been down to over the last year makes me question common sense of Russian MPs. It looks like they do believe they can regulate everything by laws, from street rallies to sexual relationships of citizens. Passing of such laws is an attempt to shift the focus of public attention from internal problems of Russia, people’s disaffection and questionable legitimacy of MPs themselves to search for enemies in ‘foreign agents’, LGBT community or ‘insulters’ of religious feelings,” Dmitry Makarov, a co-chair of the International Youth Human Rights Movement, told Index.
The scale and pace of passing repressive laws won the Russian State Duma a nickname of “a Crazy Printer.” And it does not seem to run out of paper and new ideas about what to restrict.
8 Jul 2013 | Comment, Europe and Central Asia, News and features
Global action is needed to counter Putin’s crackdown on civil society, says Yuri Dzhibladze, president of the Center for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights
(more…)
8 Jul 2013 | In the News
FROM INDEX ON CENSORSHIP MAGAZINE
Global view: Who has freedom of expression?
Freedom of expression is a universal, fundamental human right. But who actually has access to free expression? Index CEO Kirsty Hughes looks at the evidence.
(Index on Censorship)
The multipolar challenge to free expression
As emerging markets command influence on the international stage, Saul Estrin and Kirsty Hughes look at the impact on economics, politics and human rights.
(Index on Censorship)
News in monochrome: Journalism in India
The media’s infatuation with a single narrative is drowning out the country’s diversity, giving way to sensationalist reporting and “paid for” news. But, says Bharat Bhushan, moves towards regulation could have a chilling effect too
(Index on Censorship)
Censorship: The problem child of Burma’s dictatorship
Writer and artist Htoo Lyin Myo gives his personal account of working under government censorship in Burma
(Index on Censorship)
BAHRAIN
Media bias cost Bahrain millions
BAHRAIN has lost millions of dinars paying public relations companies as it tries to combat negative reporting in the international media, according to a leading human rights activist.
(Gulf Daily News)
Bahrain Salafist society wants concerts cancelled
A Salafist society in Bahrain has called for the cancellation of the annual summer festival in respect of the Arabs and Muslims suffering in several countries.
(Gulf News)
GHANA
Contempt of Court: It’s a ghost of Ghana’s common law system – Lawyer
A Senior Lecturer of the Ghana School of Law, Opoku Agyemang, has called for a critical analysis of contempt of court and freedom of speech.
(Ghana Web)
Supreme Court Did Nothing Wrong In Sentencing Ken Kuranchie
Head of Policy Monitoring and Evaluation at the Presidency under the erstwhile Prof Mills government, Dr Tony Aidoo, has waded into the public discussion of the jail sentence meted out to Stephen Atubiga and Ken Kuranchie by the Supreme Court over contemptuous comments saying it is about time media practitioners and commentators respect institutions of authority and obey the laws of the country.
(Asia Society)
INDIA
Who Has the Right to Offend in South Asia?
The past few months in India and around Asia have seen films, books, art and academics become targets of censorship, involving harassment, legal action and even threats of violence.
(Peace FM)
JAMAICA
Senate Begins Debate on Defamation Bill
The Senate, on July 5, commenced debate on a Bill entitled: ‘An Act to Repeal the Defamation Act and Libel and Slander Act’, also known as the Defamation Bill, during its sitting at Gordon House, downtown Kingston.
(Jamaica Information Service)
Punish Deejays For Gangsta Lyrics
Some of the worst examples of sloppy thinking, non-sequitur reasoning, and nonsense masquerading as commentary, as well as plain hysteria and myopia, have been manifested in this discussion on the anti-gang legislation as it concerns gangster lyrics.
(Jamaica Gleaner)
Time To Unleash Press Watchdog
The presentation in the Senate by de facto Information Minister Sandrea Falconer last week on a bill titled ‘An Act to Repeal the Defamation Act and Libel and Slander Act’, also known as the defamation bill, and her urging the media to establish their own self-regulatory body adds to the voices who are keen on these developments.
(Jamaica Gleaner)
PAKISTAN
Youtube and internet freedom
Should the judicial hammer protect personal freedoms or religious sensitivities?
(Pakistan Today)
TUNISIA
Tunisia actors may face ‘indecency’ charges
Tunisia’s public prosecutor is due to question 19 actors who were attacked by radical Salafist Muslims for alleged “indecent” behaviour, their lawyer told AFP on Sunday.
(AFP)
TURKEY
Turkey’s stance on Egypt coup ‘shows its democratic maturity’
The fact that all Turkey’s political parties have criticized the military coup in Egypt is a strong indicator of the country’s democratic maturity, according to an academic expert. ‘This tells us that if something similar happened here, it wouldn’t be tolerated,’ says Professor Mensur Akgün of Istanbul’s Kültür University
(Hürriyet Daily News)
Turkey rejects call to censor media coverage of gay pride as ‘pornographic’
Turkey’s media regulator has rejected a demand by influential Turkish charities to censor coverage of LGBT events in the country’s media.
(LGBTQ Nation)
UNITED KINGDOM
Banning the term ‘gay’ is an insult to free speech
Michael Gove, the impressive Secretary of State for Education, has just decreed that the term “gay” cannot be used as an insult. It’s “outrageous and medieval” to do so.
(The Telegraph)
Top cops probe councillors to try to find sources of Sunday Mail reports that embarrassed police chiefs
POLITICIANS, free speech campaigners and media experts condemn detectives’ investigation after we revealed allegations of bullying and misconduct by senior officers.
(Daily Record)
UNITED STATES
Social media free speech rights complicated for workers
An anonymous “Suzy Citizen” leaves fliers criticizing management in a public area of the St. Cloud Public Library, and the Great River Regional Library board of trustees hires an investigator to find out if an employee is the culprit.
(USA Today)
Understand free speech before crying wolf
Some folks have strange ideas about the First Amendment. Funny thing, that, since it’s mainly those of teabag persuasion that misunderstand, while claiming to channel the founding fathers every time they do ope their ruby lips; political versions of our own J.Z. Knight and her remunerative relic, Ramtha.
(The Herald)
VIETNAM
Vietnam Censors Give Songwriter Ngoc Dai “Free Advertising”
Arguably Vietnam’s most controversial songwriter, Ngoc Dai, has been featured regularly in the Vietnamese press over the last few weeks after releasing a new album without official permission.
(The Diplomat)
Previous Free Expression in the News posts
July 5 | July 4 | July 3 | July 2 | July 1 | June 28 | June 27 | June 26 | June 25 | June 24
