تأريخ الحالة: علي أنوزلا

في 24 مايو/أيار 2016، أسقطت المحكمة الابتدائية في الرباط التهم ضد الصحفي البارز السيد علي أنوزلا بـ "تقويض سلامة الأراضي الوطنية" المتصلة بتعليقات أدلى بها في مقالة عن النزاع حول الصحراء الغربية.

علي أنوزلا هو مدافع عن حقوق الإنسان، وصحفي مستقل ومحلل سياسي. يكتب تقارير عن انتهاكات حقوق الإنسان في المغرب والصحراء الغربية. وهو مدير صحيفة "لكم" الإلكترونية المستقلة في الرباط التي تركز على الحريات المدنية وحقوق الإنسان، وتعزيز حق الوصول إلى المعلومات وحرية التعبير. وهو أيضا مؤسس مشارك مع زميله المدافع عن حقوق الإنسان السيد المعاطي منجيب، اللجنة المعنية بحماية حرية الصحافة وحرية التعبير وحقوق الإنسان في المغرب - الحرية الآن، التي رفضت السلطات المغربية طلبها للتسجيل في مايو/أيار 2014.

في 24 ديسمبر/كانون الأول 2015، استدعت الشرطة علي أنوزلا واستجوبته على خلفية تعليقات له في مقابلة مع صحيفة بيلد الألمانية حول الصحراء الغربية. حيث تحدث المدافع عن حقوق الإنسان حول القيود المفروضة على حرية التعبير في المغرب، بما فيها قمع الصحفيين المستقلين، فضلا عن الفساد وانتهاكات حقوق الإنسان ومنها التعذيب. وتستند التهم ضده على زعم استخدامه لمصطلح الصحراء الغربية "المحتلة". إلا أنه ينفي استخدام هذا المصطلح وأن هناك خلل في ترجمة كلامه.

وفيما ترحب فرونت لاين ديفندرز بتبرئة علي أنوزلا من تهمٍ بـ "تقويض سلامة الأراضي الوطنية"، لاتزال تهم دعم الإرهاب والتحريض عليه والدعوة إليه قائمة ضده. وفيما لو تمت إدانته في هذه القضية، قد يواجه المدافع عن حقوق الإنسان عقوبة سجنٍ تصل إلى 15 عاما.

Freedom of expression and human rights organisations call on the Moroccan authorities for all criminal charges facing Moroccan journalist and editor Ali Anouzla to be dropped at the Rabat court hearing scheduled on 18 February.

Anouzla, journalist and editor of the Arabic edition of the news website Lakome, was arrested on 17 September 2013 in connection with a 13 September news article published on the Arabic edition of Lakome, which included a link to a video posted on the website of the leading Spanish daily El País. The video, embedded from YouTube, allegedly sharply criticized King Mohammed VI of Morocco, accusing him of despotism and corruption, and called on Moroccan youth to engage in “Jihad”. YouTube has since removed the video. Anouzla was released on bail on 25 October.

While Lakome's article was critical of the video, on 24 September 2013, the investigating judge at the Rabat Court of Appeals indicted Ali Anouzla for “glorifying terrorism” under Article 218-2 of the Moroccan Penal Code and “materially assisting” under Article 218-6.

The provisions of the Criminal Code are vague and can be arbitrarily applied. The rule of law requires that rules especially those defining crimes be formulated with sufficient precision to enable people to regulate their conduct accordingly. Moreover, the crime in question concerns the right freedom of expression. This right is guaranteed by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). As a state party to ICCPR since 3 May 1979 Morocco should ensure that it respect the right in a manner consistent with international law.

With respect to the circumstance of the instant case we recall that United Nations Human Rights Committee (the “UNHRC”), whose mandate is to interpret and supervise the implementation of the ICCPR, has stated in its 2011 General comment on Article 19:

The free communication of information and ideas about public and political issues between citizens, candidates and elected representatives is essential. This implies a free press and other media able to comment on public issues without censorship or restraint and to inform public opinion. The public also has a corresponding right to receive media output.
It is not compatible with ICCPR to invoke provisions relating to national security to suppress or withhold from the public information of legitimate public interest that does not harm national security or to prosecute journalists, researchers, environmental activists, human rights defenders, or others, for having disseminated such information.
States parties should ensure that counter-terrorism measures are compatible with paragraph 3 of Article 19. Such offences as “encouragement of terrorism” and “extremist activity” as well as offences of “praising”, “glorifying”, or “justifying” terrorism, should be clearly defined to ensure that they do not lead to unnecessary or disproportionate interference with freedom of expression. Excessive restrictions on access to information must also be avoided. The media plays a crucial role in informing the public about acts of terrorism and its capacity to operate should not be unduly restricted. In this regard, journalists should not be penalized for carrying out their legitimate activities.
When a State party invokes a legitimate ground for restriction of freedom of expression, it must demonstrate in specific and individualized fashion the precise nature of the threat, and the necessity and proportionality of the specific action taken, in particular by establishing a direct and immediate connection between the expression and the threat.

Second, the article did not endanger national security. The Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, which are frequently cited by the UN human rights bodies and domestic courts, set out that an expression can be criminalised as a threat to national security only if three conditions are met: 1. the expression must is intended to incite imminent violence; 2. It is likely to incite such violence; and 3. there is a direct and immediate connection between the expression and the likelihood or occurrence of such violence. Vague notions such as the provision of assisting communications in terrorism or extremism, the 'glorification' or the 'promotion' of terrorism or extremism, and the mere repetition of statements made by terrorists do not themselves constitute incitation and must not be penalised. The facts in this case does not support the accusation of a terrorism crime. Ali Anouzla did not intent to incite immediate violence. Neither were his statements likely to incite violence.

Third, the journalist was reporting about the video which raised issues of public concerns. International law recognises that the media should be able to report on issues of public concern even when the underlying issues about which they are reporting relate to threats to national security. The Johannesburg Principles referred above set out that “Expression may not be prevented or punished merely because it transmits information issued by or about an organization that a government has declared threatens national security or a related interest.” Ali Anouzla was reporting about the video. He did not endorse the statements in it. Rather he was critical to it.

The undersigned organisations declare that the indictment of Ali Anouzla is unsupported by the evidence and unfounded under international law. It amounts to a violation of the journalist’s freedom of expression and his right to inform the public. Therefore they call for charges against Anouzla to be dropped, the end of judicial harassment against Anouzla and the ban on both Arabic and French-language versions of Lakome, blocked in Morocco since 17 October, to be lifted immediately.

Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-violence Studies

Arabic Network for Human Rights Information

ARTICLE 19

Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression

Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD)

Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)

Egyptian Coalition for the Rights of the Child

Egyptian Women’s Legal Foundation

Free Press Unlimited

Front Line Defenders

Hisham Mubarak Center for Law

Human Rights Legal Aid Group

International Media Support (IMS)

International Press Institute (IPI)

Journalists Without Rights

Land Center for Human Rights

Maharat Foundation

Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI)

Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture

Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

Vigilance Association for Democracy and the Civic State

On 17 September 2013, Mr Ali Anouzla, a prominent journalist, human rights defender and editor of the online newspaper Lakome, was arrested in Rabat after being summoned for interrogation by the Moroccan authorities. Lakome's offices were raided and Ali Anouzla's personal laptop was confiscated.

According to the warrant summoning the human rights defender, his arrest is related to a video that was published on the Francophone version of Lakome, which was a video by the Islamic Maghreb branch of Al Qaeda, despite it being alongside a disclaimer by the newspaper that this was a propaganda video published for journalistic reasons. The Arabic version of the site only posted a link to the video, and not the video itself.

Ali Anouzla has faced judicial harassment by Moroccan authorities in the past. In 2009, a Casablanca Court tried the human rights defender following a complaint filed by then Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi in relation to an article which described the manner of his coming to office as “a coup”.

The same year, Ali Anouzla, who was Managing Editor of the independent daily Al-Jarida al-Oula at the time, was sentenced to a two-month suspended jail term and a fine of 200,000 dirhams (approximately €17,900) for "defamation" and "insulting the judiciary” alongside the paper's Publishing Director Jamal Boudouma.

This sentence followed a series of repressive incidents and lawsuits against the paper – including a fine of 160,000 dirhams (approximately €14,300) in a trial which Ali Anouzla had not been given notice to attend – as a result of publishing a news story reporting that a relative of the King had allegedly shot a traffic officer.