By IPS Correspondents
RABAT, Mar 18 2002 (IPS)

The Moroccan Press Union, SNPM, has slammed a new press law, adopted by the country’s parliament last week, calling it “an unacceptable regression.”

The bill was passed with an almost unanimous 58 vote with only one vote against while 12 representatives abstained.

The law, proposed by the socialist-led coalition government, is “a blatant violation of professional ethics”, says Younes Moujahid, SNPM Secretary-General.

The penal character of the bill is the major source of concern for Moroccan journalists, as the text makes them liable to jail terms for publishing information deemed “blasphemous” to the monarchy or “jeopardising supreme interests or public order.”

Some 40 reporters who were covering the parliament’s voting session wore armbands to protest the passing of the bill.

“The adoption of the bill is a great disappointment for journalists,” says Moujahid, who accused the socialist-led government of putting pressure on some deputies from the majority to vote for the bill.

“Some deputies who were not convinced of the viability of the new code, were forced to vote for it by the government for political reasons,” he said.

The union has requested the removal of all penal provisions from the bill and has vowed to continue to press for the revision of the law.

“In democratic countries, penal sanctions against journalists have no raison d’être,” says Bachir Znagui, editor-in-chief of local Liberation daily.

“Before the adoption of the bill we warned that the introduction of jail sentences to a legal arsenal on the media was a step backward,” adds Znaghi, a member of SNPM national committee.

“No text is perfect and the door should be left open for dialogue with the media professionals,” says Znaghi.

The law, which amends a press code dating back to 1973, provides for jail terms of one to three years for “publishing information harming the country’s sacred values,” and three to five years against those running information “blasphemous to the monarchy.”

Journalists publishing information “likely to harm public order, the army or the country’s supreme interests” risk one to five years in addition to paying fines of 1200 to 100,000 Moroccan Dirhams (120 U.S dollars to 10,000 U.S. dollars).

Journalists believe the bill remains vague regarding information harming public order and the country’s interests.

“Running information on the quality of water or bread, for instance, can be interpreted by the authorities as harming public order or the country’s interests,” says a journalist, adding “the legislators have to define such offences to avoid arbitrary sanctions.”

Professionals also blame the authorities for seeking to be faithful to the security concern that had marked an outdated press code of 1973.

The 1973 code was enforced with repressive jail terms on journalists following two coup attempts against the late King Hassan II in 1971 and 1972, in a bid to muzzle the militant reporters of that time.

Censorship, professional banning and criminal prosecutions are among the acts that have eroded press freedom in Morocco in 2000 and 2001, reversing gains scored in the final two years of the reign of King Hassan II, who died in July 1999, and following the coronation of his son, King Mohammed VI.

The most salient repression acts were taken against Le Journal and Assahifa newspapers for publishing a letter alleging that Morocco’s Prime Minister, Abderrahmane Youssoufi, was involved in the 1972 plot to kill King Hassan.

At the end of last year the authorities also banned Demain magazine and fined its director, Ali Lamrabet, 30,000 dirhams (nearly 3000 U.S. dollars) for publishing information on the royal family’s intention to sell the palace of Skhirat situated in one of Rabat’s suburbs.

The palace is notorious for being the scene of the 1971 coup attempt against the late King Hassan. Student army officers, led by Colonel Mohamed Ababou, attacked the palace where the monarch was hosting a banquet to mark his birthday. Hundreds of guests were reportedly killed in the attack, while the late King had a narrow escape.

Responding to the criticism of the bill, Morocco’s culture and communication minister, Mohamed Achaari, said “the new (law) is the perfect tool to adapting the country’s press to the ongoing democratisation process.”

“It meets the concerns and aspirations of professionals and of the civil society and is well adapted to international covenants related to the human rights, to the freedom of speech and free circulation of information,” Achaari told the parliament.

In a statement, the opposition party, the Constitutional Union, has accused the government for “expediently having the bill passed by the parliament to serve limited electioneering interests, in the (build-up to ) next September’s general elections.”

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