TelQuel Fights Back - And You Can Help

This blog was one of the first to break the story about the Moroccan courts' crackdown on groundbreaking weekly magazine TelQuel.

[Quick backgrounder: In March, TelQuel publishes cover story detailing King Muhammad VI's enormous salary. In August, a Moroccan judge hits TelQuel with a massive $112,000 fine for a supposedly unrelated case of defamation. The case is a sham and the judge ruled against TelQuel without even allowing the magazine's lawyer to speak. Editor Ahmed Benchemsi (right) now faces jail time if he does not pay the fine.]

After a few weeks of silence, a new issue of TelQuel is out - and it aims straight at the regime for attempting to quash freedom of the press. First, editor-in-chief Benchemsi pens a summary of the affair called "A Mockery of Justice", which runs with a cute accompanying cartoon (right).

Second, the magazine has launched a new website ("soutientelquel.com"- support TelQuel) with a support petition demanding freedom of the press and a transparent judicial process. Up only two days, the petition already has over 1,500 signatures.

Take a minute to support a daring but threatened Middle Eastern publication, a magazine committed to civil rights and self-critical introspection (name another magazine from the region to publish cover stories on homosexuality, reinterpreting the Quran, and the local dictator's salary). Sign the petition here. (For those who don't speak French, following the "continuation" link below for a translation.)

"In a rushed slander court case, the Editor of TelQuel Ahmed R. Benchemsi and his deputy Karim Boukhari were condemned - without even allowing their lawyer to speak - to two months in prison if they do not pay a 1,050,000 dirham [$112,000] fine. The two journalists are appealing.

"This prison sentence and this exorbitant fine constitute, without any doubt, a 'warning' by the authorities directed at TelQuel, which has been 'punished' for its editorial independence. The authorities have launched a new method for muzzling the press: choking it progressively through disproportionate fines, meted out via sham court cases. Though just TelQuel today, it is the entire Moroccan free press that is threatened tomorrow.

"We the undersigned forcefully denounce any attack, even indirect, on freedom of the press, and we demand justice for TelQuel via a transparent and fair legal process."

SIGN HERE (first name, last name, profession, city). Or use this Google translation to sign.

Comments

[hale]

If you want to help TelQuel, there are several things you can do. The easiest thing is to sign this NEW petition, which may be found here: (http://www.sudanactivism.com/campaigns/telquel/)

Next, you might write an email letter to the same two officials the petition will be given to. They have the same e-mail address, but you may address your letters to each of them. Their email address is: mail@maec.gov.ma

They are: Foreign Ministry’s Director of Communications Mohamed Maoulainine and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Benaissa.

Let's all fight together for Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press!

Thanks

hale
Bloggin The Maghreb

[hale]

If you want to help TelQuel, there are several things you can do. The easiest thing is to sign this NEW petition, which may be found here: (http://www.sudanactivism.com/campaigns/telquel/)

Next, you might write an email letter to the same two officials the petition will be given to. They have the same e-mail address, but you may address your letters to each of them. Their email address is: mail@maec.gov.ma

They are: Foreign Ministry’s Director of Communications Mohamed Maoulainine and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Benaissa.

Let's all fight together for Freedom of Expression and Freedom of the Press!

Thanks

hale
Bloggin The Maghreb

[Jeff Paul Internet Millions]

Thanks for posting such vital information. I am new to the blogging scene. Any and all pointers are helpful.

[Achat Viagra]

I feel the same way you do. I think they would be taken seriously if they didn't take their ideas to such extremes.