Brussels, 15/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - A tender kiss and a photo of it published on the internet means prison for two Moroccan adolescents. This has caused outcry from socialist (S&D) MEPs at the European Parliament. Released after three days, the two adolescents still have to be tried and reportedly risk up to two years in prison.
More significant still is the arrest of the director of the electronic news site Lakome for quoting an article in Spanish daily newspaper El Pais and especially a video on the El Pais website showing AQIM (Al Quaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) and attacking “Morocco - kingdom of corruption and despotism”.
Belgian MEP Véronique De Keyser, vice-president of the S&D Group, who reports this in a press release on 15 October, recalls the commitments taken by Morocco to protect the freedom of expression and of the press. These are “the foundation of a democratic state” and one of the chapters of the advanced partnership agreed between Morocco and the EU, which is based on an approach of support for pluralism, diversity of the media, protection of journalists, the freedom of expression and the right to inform, said De Keyser. (FB/transl.fl)