 Mohamed Erraji had written an article suggesting that some royal practices did not help the development of the country. The appeals court in Agadir overturned the conviction and dropped all charges against Mr Erraji. Morocco has allowed greater freedom of expression in recent years, but there are still limits on what can be said. Mr Erraji's had originally been sent to prison for two years, and given a fine of 5,000 dirhams for lacking the respect due to the king. A Moroccan appeals court Thursday granted provisional release to blogger Mohamed Erraji who was sentenced two years in jail for disparaging Moroccan King Mohammed VI, official MAP news agency reported. The court of city of Agadir said the prosecution did not respect the procedures stipulated in the press code, the report said.
Erraji, 29, was arrested last weekend and sentenced on Monday two years in jail and a fine of 5,000 Moroccan dirhams (626 U.S. dollars), in the absence of defense lawyer. Moroccan appeals court releases blogger who disparages king
The young blogger posted an article on the Moroccan hesspress.com website, where he criticized Mohammed VI of granting favors to some Moroccans, saying this practice humiliates the Moroccan people and encourages bootlickers who try to obtain these favors from the king without making any efforts. The ten-minute, closed-doors trial on Monday which Erraji's most basic rights were flouted, was widely condemned by the world human rights groups and organizations of the freedom of the press.
Two years jail term for Moroccan blogger
A Moroccan blogger was sentenced Monday by a court in Agadir, Morocco to two years' jail term for "failure to respect the king", it was learned from his family. Mohamed Erraji was arrested on Friday by the police, and was accused of having slandered the king in an article titled "King encourages laziness in people ", published on the Moroccan electronic newspaper “Hespress”, according to his family In the article written by Mohamed Erraji, he was critical of King Mohammed VI, which he said "encourages laziness in his people" by distributing favors including transport licenses to citizens who approach him. "Mohamed Erraji is incarcerated in the Inzeggane prison after a two sentence and a DH5,000.00 handed down by a local court” said his brother Hussein Erraji The family has indicated that it will seek help from human rights organizations as it appeals the sentence to a higher court.
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