Moroccan blogger detained

Moroccan blogger, Mohamed Erraji, was arrested and then sentenced 72 hours later after a 10 minute trial, for 2 years. His crime was to publish a website criticising the King of Morocco.

The blogger was arrested last Friday, September 5th following the publication on the e-zine Hespress.com of an article entitled "The King Encourages His Subject's Dependency" criticizing the social policy of King Mohamed VI (original version in Arabic, French translation, English translation ). He was sentenced 72 hours later in an expedited trial reported to have lasted 10 minutes without having access the most basic to be assisted by a lawyer which speaks volumes about the Moroccan justice system.

Mohammed started his blog, "The World of Mohammed Erraji, last year and writes mostly about social and political issues. On the 11th September he was granted a provisional release before his trial tomorrow the 16th September.

The Kingdom of Morocco is ruled by King Mohammed the VI who paints himself as a progressive ruling over a"democracy". However the reality is that that free speech is restricted and criticism of the monarch not permitted. In February this year, Fouad Mourtada was arrested for creating a Facebook profile using the name of one of the King's brother, Moulay Rachid. Although Fouad's judgment on using someone else's name was probably silly it certainly was not an arrest able offense.