Morocco jails YouTuber, detains journalist

A Moroccan YouTuber has been sentenced to four years in prison for “insulting the king” in a video broadcast on social networks, his lawyer says.

In a separate case, a Moroccan journalist and activist was charged and detained over a tweet that had criticized a court decision, his defense council tells AFP.

The cases come after the Moroccan Human Rights Association had deplored in July an “escalation of violations of human rights and public and individual freedoms” in Morocco.

The YouTuber Mohamed Sekkaki, known as “Moul Kaskita,” was sentenced by a court in the western city of Settat to four years in prison, his lawyer Mohamed Ziane tells AFP.

Sekkaki, whose videos usually exceed 100,000 views, was arrested in early December after posting a video in which he insulted Moroccans as “donkeys” and criticised King Mohammed VI, whose is considered “inviolable” under the constitution.

Ziani says his client would appeal the verdict.

The conviction of the YouTuber came less than a month after a Moroccan rapper was sentenced to a year in prison for “insulting a public official.”

Also today, journalist Omar Radi, 33, has been detained in Casablanca and now faces trial, his lawyer Said Benhammani tells AFP.

He is being prosecuted for a tweet published nine months ago criticising the judge in charge of the case against the leaders of the Hirak protest movement, he says.

Morocco’s criminal code punishes “insulting magistrates” with imprisonment of between one month and one year.

The group Reporters Without Borders in its latest annual press freedom index ranked Morocco 135th out of 180 countries.

— AFP