Rights group addresses media clampdown

Moroccan authorities are using a law designed to keep people from falsely claiming professional credentials to bring criminal charges against people trying to expose abuses, Human Rights Watch said yesterday. In the latest case, Nezha Khalidi, who is affiliated with the activist group Equipe Media in El-Ayoun, Western Sahara, will go on trial on Monday accused of not meeting the requirements to call herself a journalist. Police arrested her in December as she was livestreaming on Facebook a street scene in Western Sahara and denouncing Moroccan 'repression'. She faces two years in prison if convicted. 'People who speak out peacefully should never have to fear prison for "pretending" to be journalists,' said HRW official Eric Goldstein. He noted that Article 381 of Morocco's penal code forbids 'claiming or using a title associated with a profession that is regulated by law ... without meeting the necessary conditions to use it'. He added that this was incompatible with Morocco's obligations under international human rights law to respect the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas.