A group of intellectuals is supporting Soulaiman Raissouni, Omar Radi, Taoufik Bouachrine, Imad Stitou and Chafik Omerani, who are being prosecuted for practising their profession, and is asking the French authorities not to turn a blind eye. 

  Soulaiman Raissouni                                  Omar Radi                                        Taoufik Bouachrine

At a time when France and Morocco seem to be moving towards the Moroccan autonomy plan for Western Sahara – in contradiction with international law – we cannot fail to react to the unfair prosecution of Moroccan journalists Soulaiman Raissouni (in prison since May 2020), Omar Radi (in prison since July 2020), Taoufik Bouachrine (in prison since December 2019), Chafik Omerani (in prison since February 2021) and Imad Stitou. We are very concerned for Soulaiman Raissouni and Omar Radi who started an unlimited hunger strike on 8 April 2021 to obtain their release.

These journalists have indeed reported on numerous cases, including corruption, and social protests (especially in the Rif) that have shaken Morocco, without yet changing the reality of the Makhzen-police regime. Soulaiman Raissouni, Omar Radi, Taoufik Bouachrine, Imad Stitou and Chafik Omerani are accused, without any real basis and out of all common sense, of “sexual violence”, “offences against morals", “involvement in acts of a criminal nature”, while the current political leaders have benefited and still benefit from the vast silence of the authorities and the major French media.

Soulaiman Raissouni, for example, has been charged with “rape with violence and sequestration” without any complaint having been filed. As for Omar Radi, he is being prosecuted on several spurious charges: contempt of court, violence, drunkenness on the public highway, rape and indecent assault, undermining the internal and external security of the State, and espionage.

These journalists are subject to judicial persecution

Although Omar Radi attended each of the twelve summonses issued by the National Brigade of the Judicial Police (BNPJ), demonstrating his willingness not to shirk his civic duty, and after undergoing approximately 100 hours of interrogation in five weeks for four different procedures, he was remanded in custody, and in solitary confinement, on 29 July 2020.

It is therefore a case of arbitrary detention following a real judicial and police harassment. All of them have been subjected to judicial persecution for several years, under iniquitous and fabricated grounds to cover up political trials, to sully, condemn and imprison.

Arrested several times for enthusiastically carrying out their work as journalists, Soulaiman Raissouni, Omar Radi, Taoufik Bouachrine, Imad Stitou and Chafik Omerani have refused to give in to threats and intimidation. Should they be sentenced to months or years in prison simply for doing their job of informing their country’s citizens with exemplary professional honesty?

Freedom of expression challenged

We cannot condone such a denial of justice by our silence. François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848) described passivity in the face of injustice as “the silence of abjection”. It was against this silence that a historian like Pierre Vidal-Naquet denounced the use of torture by the French army during the Algerian war, and launched an investigation to find out the truth about the disappearance of the mathematician Maurice Audin (1932-1957).

The fight for truth and press freedom is embodied today in the defence of freedom of expression, which has been challenged by the imprisonment of Soulaiman Raissouni, Omar Radi, Imad Stitou, Taoufik Bouachrine and Chafik Omerani.

That is why we urge President Emmanuel Macron to intervene decisively with the Moroccan king, Mohamed VI, to have Soulaiman Raissouni, Omar Radi, Imad Stitou, Taoufik Bouachrine and Chafik Omerani released. It is a matter of honour for France to help secure the release of those who have become symbols of freedom of information that has been violated.

Waiting for a leniency decision

This would be in line with the French head of state’s statement about Morocco during his visit to Rabat (June 2017): “a friendly country and strategic partner” for France, in which there is “no reason to fear any desire for repression”. This statement, which is the antithesis of an arrogant posture inherited from colonization, between two friendly countries and strategic partners, will only give more weight to an intervention by the French president with his Moroccan counterpart, who we can hope will take a decision of clemency that would be wise and respectful of human rights.

Signatories

Nicole Abravanel, historian; Yazid Ben Hounet, anthropologist; Louise Bruit Zaidman, historian; Claude Calame, Hellenist and anthropologist; Sophie Desrosiers, historian and anthropologist; Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, historian; Rose-Marie Lagrave, sociologist; Martin de La Soudière, ethnologist; Michèle Leclerc-Olive, socio-anthropologist; Olivier Mongin, editor; Véronique Nahoum-Grappe, anthropologist; Martyne Perrot, sociologist; Nicole Phelouzat, sociologist; Christelle Rabier, science historian; Gisèle Sapiro, sociologist; Lucette Valensi, historian; Sophie Wahnich, historian.