Rida Benotmane
Rida Benotmane is a Moroccan human rights defender, journalist and author. He is a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) and the Freedom Now association. Between 2007 and 2011, Rida Benotmane was imprisoned for four years for online commentaries he made that denounced torture in secret detention centres in Morocco. He was convicted on appeal of “apology for terrorism”, an offence which involves reacting positively to an act of terrorism, as well as “offence to the person of the king”. In September 2022, Rida Benotmane was arrested again over online commentaries on social media outlets that he released in 2021 in which he expressed legitimate grievances against the authorities. He was sentenced to three years in prison for "contempt of constitutional institutions" in November 2022.
In response to the February 2011 pro-reform protests in Morocco, inspired by sister movements in Egypt and Tunisia, King Mohammed VI promised reform, including the “strengthening of human rights in all their dimensions, political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, and developmental”. The new constitution, which was voted in by the country’s electorate in July 2011, prohibited torture and ill treatment, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances, guaranteed greater equality for women and introduced other positive legal reforms.
