.jpg)
| Morocco: Speech at Protest Leads to 3 Years Sentence |
 |
| Tuesday, 14 February 2012 19:23 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The city of Taza, was the scene of recent clashes between protesters and security forces in a backdrop of social demands.
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email this
Hits: 4669
Trackback(0)
Comments (24)
Casawi72
said:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
A morocco court sentenced a protester last Monday to a term of three years in jail. Abdessamad Hidour, an activist with the Feb 20th youth protest movement was convicted for "attacking the sacred values of the nation". The activist had appeared on a 
hile MoroccoBoard.com encourages discussion on all subjects, including sensitive ones, the comments posted are solely the views of those submitting them. MoroccoBoard.com does not necessarily endorse or agree with the ideas, views, or opinions voiced in these comments. This is a moderated forum. Comments deemed abusive, offensive, or those containing profanity may not be published.
TrackBack URI for this entry
Subscribe to this comment's feed|
... I thought the constitution was amended to do away with the sacred aspect of the King. Although I don't agree with this sentencing, i must note to the posters who keep chanting to us about "freedom of speech" that every nation has its own historical background and context. That's how we are going to change laws in Morocco. Have you heard of the laws on food libel in the US? or Food Disparagement Laws as they are called? That's right. You can insult the president and make up false accusation against him but you WILL BE taken to court if you make false statements about some food/produce product (basically spreading false rumors) in public. |
riffi
said:
|
... It is not up to anybody to condemn this kid but the do process in a court of law following the new constitution. These speedy Gonzalez, and with all due respect to our Latino’s friend I am just borrowing a term, do not help the king or Morocco in general. I remarked Morocco and its government always acts and acted in a panic mode. With this new so called constitution and this kid's situation Benkirane and M6 should turn it to their advantage in giving to this young man a lawyer and investigate the matter in letting the justice play it course in the field of do process. But no we always screw up the situation and creating a chaos, it shows also the maturity of our political system, one that didn't learn, in another away the Makhzen mentality is still hovering over our development and progress that will never happen as long as we don't burry that mentality definitely once and for all . |
Morcelli
said:
|
... I will not allow anyone to puke on us that his father or grand father is a muqawin, I can care less if he's a muqawim or Rombo. Right now I am talking about a young man ranting inconsistencies and misinformation on youtube. He wants to have weapons manufactured Morocco, He wants to stop decisions about Morocco to be made in Tel Aviv and Paris and he called their king a dog. He received 3 years in jail. I will repeat that storing these kids in jail in order for the king of Morocco to pardon them the next holiday is not the answer. It worked in the 70 and 80, it just not work is 2012. Moroccans are no longer afraid. as My friend man en blanc has skillfully stated, you do not cure the ills of the past with yesterday's meds. You use what is available today. In this case, what you do today is not to jail people for bursting on youtube and Facebook. Of course there are those who want us to condone the kid, NO, I am going to do that, he should be able to rant and be pissed. That's his right, it is also my right to agree or disagree with him. I don't want some pseudo knowledgeable claiming his father was a muqawim to tell me that i need to condone this kid. Why would I do that? for the king? what is the king did for me? |
haras
said:
|
No point in discussing with the hearing impaired.... I don't even know why I bother.... It doesn't matter what you write, they won't read it... they have their own ghosts, Hassan II or I don't know what, and they want to fight them, Hassan II is history, just like them, bad history... I can't explain to them what is Moukawama, I wasn't part of it, my father was, it was his deed, not mine... can we keep the fathers and grandfathers out of this... can we stop talking about things we were not part of (Moukawama for example)... can we stop talking about people we don't know, can we stop e-psychanalysing people we don't know... and their fathers and grandfathers... I brought the little background to show them how wrong they are, but "You Show Them the Moon and They Look at Your Finger "... I don't see anyone here defending the jail sentence, yet some people insist on fighting a battle they can win, and put words in your mouth even though you clearly state the opposite, I don't know if I can be more clear, I think that jail should be only for criminals, not for the people who do not present any liability to the society, that goes for the guy in the video, and for the people consuming marijuana in here and in Morocco... When they don't bring a link that is irrelevant to the discussion, they bring trashy links about trashy people, can't we filter what is good for us, can't we as we recognize that jail is not the appropriate response, recognize at the same time, that such low level of discussions is unacceptable... as a matter of fact, if we didn't accept it from Hassan II, are we going to accept it from this guy... Some people just have so much time on their old hands, and keep on commenting or any comment anyone pukes in here, or whatever they think the article or the comment is about, they have an opinion about everything, and I have to recognize that at the end, I have to agree with the adage... "you can't teach old dogs new tricks"... some people are just hopeless... I am out of here... it is not worth a minute... |
Morcelli
said:
|
... man en blanc, That is exactly my point " why is the regime reaching into its 1970's bag of "remedies" to address the problems of a 21st century-minded young population? " I wish I were as articulate as you always are, it just sometimes when I see these people defending the undefended, it's enraging. They see people like you and me as anti Morocco, when in fact all we are asking is for the authorities to learn from Tunisia, Libya and Egypt's mistakes and that brutalizing their own people will eventually come back an bite them in the rear. |
man en blanc
said:
|
Bravo Morcelli. You've hit the bull's-eye: If the regime keeps arbitrarily and capriciously jailing young men for the legal equivalent of pecadillos, it's only normal that a thousand-fold more would get hardened and their hatred becomes more focused. Case in point, a year ago, the street demonstrators weren't asking for the king downfall, today, that request is part and parcel of the rising chorus of angry voices. If it is 2012, why is the regime reaching into its 1970's bag of "remedies" to address the problems of a 21st century-minded young population? |
Morcelli
said:
|
... Some people here simply would not get it. They simply do not understand that Morocco should move away from Hassan II era of raping human rights in Morocco, and yes it is about freedom of speech, no one should be arrested for speaking up no matter how bad it does sound when he/she calls your king a dog, I understand that some here bring their backwardness to the US and still lust for what their parents and grand parents did to Morocco and claiming that they are instead a product of mouqawama, If they mean that they were mouqawimin against their own people then that I would believe that. No Mouqawim will ever be happy to see a poor young men being thrown in jail for 3 year for simply in the moment of anger called your king a dog. Here is reporter calling Obama ""Chihuahua Of The West" , I don't see her getting arrested. " http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201102230059 " Please help and save us from those who want to reinvent Hassan II, and for those of you who were not around here is Hassan II threatening and insulting his own subjects. Enjoy the show! " http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCsp43C-8AA " |
HKR
said:
|
Populist sloganeers / Absolute monarch: two wrongs don't make a right. We live in strange times indeed! The pot that is our country's socio-political state of affairs has vigorously been stirred by recent events in the region, that various sediments -some good, some bad and most just plain ugly- have risen to the top. This post "Arab spring" phenomenon, where new entities and old are falling over themselves while piggybacking the populist wave of discontent is in effect nothing short of a desperate attempt on their parts to appropriate a breadth of influence in the "newly" emerging political landscape. Populist posturing is akin to pop music in the sense that it is wildly acclaimed and mimicked today and speedily forgotten and gone tomorrow. It has such a relatively short life span because it doesn't truly emanate from within, but simply panders to whatever happens to be in vogue at that particular moment in time; because it concerns itself with short term gains rather than project its vision long term and because, sometimes, in its ravenous hunger for recognition it has no compunction using all manner of means, however unsavoury, to achieve prominence. Populist movements, whether religious or secular, may do more harm than good; for one thing and due to their sensationalist approach they redirect general focus from the real issues and drown the voices of reason under a torrent of misinformation, misguidance and misinterpretation. Populists thrive in the midst of the prejudiced, the undereducated and the disenfranchised by preying on their weaknesses. They are quick at pointing out all ills that afflict society but more often than not stop short from prescribing remedies! The ultimate danger of populism, however, lurks in the fact that it can easily lend itself to dark and sinister forms of extremism. It does so in small tentative steps at first, allowing for small trespasses on the liberty and dignity of others -usually a minority- and if left unchecked it festers and morphs into a monster. |
riffi
said:
|
... this time i disagree this young man should know a democracy does not give him the right to insult any one but to criticize and debate .insults generate hate and lack of solutions and lead to a chaos. That's why everybody should know in the democracy your freedom stop when the freedom of others start. |
aes
said:
|
Lock him up. Next. These are the guys behind the Sunday Dance in Morocco. God help Benkirane. |
haras
said:
|
Correction People who don't know someone, and obviously don't know their parents and grandparents, should abstain from muddying other people's parents' in this discussion... and as far as I am concerned, my father who was in the MOUKAWAMA was never a fan of Hassan II, or even Med V... his Idol was Al Khattabi, maybe because he wasn't fortunate like his elders who fought alongside Ben Abdelkrim... as he used to refer to him... I've always despised some people's crass character, I feel the effect of their old age, their grumpiness, they're free to invite themselves in a discussion probably with no consequence to them, at their age, but we plead to them, if they decide to do so, to do it in a manner that reflects another attribute that comes with old age, wisdom and restraint... We owe it to each other, here and in Morocco, to maintain a certain level of civility, the guy in the video is 25, he is relatively young and therefore, we can excuse his mistakes, and he shouldn't be jailed for calling the king a DOG but the same people who defend his right to do so, should also condemn such behavior... Finally, people who throw links here, should at least take the time to understand what the whole discussion is about, but then again... "avec l'age, les raideurs se deplacent"... |
Aziz El Alami
said:
|
... Whether what happen to this young man is right or wrong is almost anecdotal. What is alarming is that his rant, as misguided as it might be, only highlights the fact that Morocco has an overabundance of disgruntled subjects - and that’s the real issue at hand! This is not about freedom of speech. Freedom is not empowerment. Anybody can get a gun and instantly become empowered. It’s not about entitlement; an entitlement is what people on welfare get, and how free are they? It’s not about an endlessly expanding list of rights -- The “right” to education, the “right” to food and housing. That’s not freedom, that’s dependency… There is only one basic human right, the right to do and say as you damn well please -- and with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to bear the consequences! For human rights are neither basic, nor, human, nor rights. |
Moroccan Patriot
said:
|
Haras, Morcelli, I actually do live in Morocco The law in Morocco is very clear about insulting people. It is a really silly law. I mean a super duper - feel dumber for even reading it law - but it is the law. Consequently, from a legal perspective, the kid is looking at jail time. As long as he is ONLY looking at jail time and does not somehow trip and lose his testicles in some kind of tragic accident or otherwise get tortured, I will say that we have made a great deal of progress in Morocco. Remember, even in the US and Europe there are very definite limits on Free Speech. Europe has archaic "holocaust" and now, "Armenian Holocaust" laws, whereby merely questioning historical events, akin to believing in the tooth fairy can land you in prison for a longer period of time than raping a woman or breaking someone's legs with a baseball bat. In the US, under the new NDAA laws in conjunction with the patriot act, statements can not only result in losing your constitutional rights, but can end up resulting in a drone shooting a missile at your house or car and killing you and your family. As for govt. being out of control monitoring the communications of its citizenry, when it comes to monitoring, Morocco does not come anywhere close to the kind of monitoring done in the US, where every single email sent since 2003 is saved. I mean every single email sent since 2003 is saved on mirrored drives in underground bunkers in San Diego, to Hershey Pa. Let us not fool ourselves. Govts, oppressive govts all over the world spy. Now, lets get back to this kid. I obviously do not think he should have been given 3 years in Jail. If I worked for the government, I would have sued him in civil court. He would have had a judgement of 1,000,000 DH against him. He could not afford to pay this, and thus would be sent to debtors jail or forced to work out a payment mechanism or forced to make a public apology. This prevents him from becoming a martyr of free speech and gives due respect for the rule of law. On the other hand, even the richest people would avoid making too many fool hardy statements as the maximum penalty of 1,000,000 DH would be per incident. Just my opinion. I love living in Morocco, and since I have spent a LOT of time in Tunisia, Mauritani, Libya and Egypt, I can tell you that Morocco would go the route of Egypt in the event of revolution, NOT Tunisia, and I think North Africa has had enough violence for a while. Lets try to work within the law to accomplish positive change. Where there is will there is hope. As for Adl Alahsan or Benkirane... they are just people - people make mistakes. |
Morcelli
said:
|
... It's not al adl wal ihsane that I am afraid of it's people like you are scary; people whose parents and grand parents worshiped Hassan II and now their children are worshiping M6. People who would want to control you. Sheich yassin is a decent man who called your king to return the money that his father stole from Moroccan people. People like you will never have the courage to do such a thing instead they chose to be the servant of his majesty in and out the country. Here is Obama calling his critics a dog. and by the way Obama is the leader of the free world and I am sure that you are making a living in the free world otherwise why are you here? go back to your M6 or better yet join your Algerian friend, he defends his generals the same way you defend your king and his elite but at the same time you argue with him day and night when you are so similar. " http://politicalticker.blogs.c...ike-a-dog/ " |
Moor212
said:
|
Morocco, a country of contrast and contradictions The poor guy has no idea how the economy and politics work, but he feels frustrated because the entire system is corrupt. His Insult to the king is not relevant, but the way the Makhzen is handling the issue shows panic. The message we get from is that The new constitution is pure marketing and the PJD does not rule the country! Mr Ramid, No one should be detained and sentenced on the spot, with no right to an attorney. let call thing with their names, Mr.Hidour, although he made inappropriate statements, is an activist who was detained for political reasons, he is not a criminal or a thread to national security! |
haras
said:
|
Can you read before reacting... It seems to me I am the only one who took the time to watch the video... bull of crap, ideas from the 70s and Cuban cool aid all the way... why don't you industrialize instead of selling our raw goods??? ... which raw goods you might ask??? for which markets??? ignorance is a bliss... As for the insults, I am sorry, if you don't see the harm in calling the king or anyone else, DOG, you have problems. I agree that such conduct doesn't need to be reprimanded with a jail sentence, we don't have enough jails anyway (try and compare the jailed population in Morocco to that in the US to get a picture on why the king keeps on pardoning) but the educated among us have the responsibility to condemn it with no apologies... By the end of the day, liberals wanna be on MB, are defending the radical leftists nonsense, and if there is change, ie revolution, it will bring AL Adl to power, and at that time, try and call Cheikh Yassine dog... |
mbt
said:
|
Freedom and liberty Hopefully by the time young man comes out of the jail the regime would have changed and democracy prevail. |
Morcelli
said:
|
... It's not about calling the king or anyone else a dog, a goat, or a donkey. Can you imagine if everyone files a lawsuit for being called a dog? Do you really want the people who are supposed to be working for you spending their time on catching people for speaking up on youtube or Facebook? Is this how our judicial system will get better? I don't see any problem if a jobless young men or woman being so pissed off and calling your king a dog, a goat, or a bird. So what? some of you will say, " No he should respect the king", i say then go back to Morocco and see if you are going to get the respect you want for the king but not for yourself. Some people here are still stuck in Hassan II era when countries around them are seeing the light. These people remind me those who want to bring Sharia or their backwardness to Europe and the US. How many people does your government has to be watching and spying on the internet? Do you really think that is the way to go? This student would not been known if it wasn't for the St^%#%#dity of your government. I don't agree that Morocco's fate is played out in Israel or Paris as they were bursting out, but then again if your government was honest and forthcoming with what they do with Taxpayer's money, we won't have misinformed people as we have seen in the clip. We need to keep in mind that those kids are in Taza and Taza is one of the poorest mountain region in Morocco and we also need to take in consideration that 2 out 3 Moroccan between the age of 18 and 29 is out of the job and on top of that we store them in jail in order for your king to pardon them and look pretty? Please god help us! Is by arresting people for wanting change we will conquer our demons? Doesn't your government understand that every time they arrest and swiftly convict those young men, they are making a Tunisian bouazizi out of them? |
LizardKing
said:
|
... Haras and Chbani or Why morocco will never change You drank the Kool-Ade and Its just too late baby... Yes its too late Hash so good, minds so strange Pants on the ground, arms down laid Hassan made sure you"ll never be brainy Oh! Mo I forsee no worry on your plate Fools are many fighting for your stage Many too many to kiss your hand so lovely And for that they would have paid For the such sorry I will never feel My people are gone I have changed my skin Dont cry for me al mima The truth is I had to leave I could not be a harachbani I could not kiss Mo's hand And that I will never regret |
patriot
said:
|
looser that´s a typical looser statements! it´s not about criticising or freedom ofspeach,but insults and diffamation(he said: criminal,dictator,dog..)!! we don´t tolerate insults against public persons,not even france or germany tolerate such anarchy. I learned something with moroccans,too much freedom is not good for them(kandsrou bezzaf) please release MB |
Chbani
said:
|
This young man is Morocco made If this young man is badly behaving, he did not come from another planet. He is a pure product of Moroccan society. I do not agree with him since he is not respecting the Moroccan constitution. He is behaving illegally with respect to a constitution which I was not in favor of. Educated citizens will fight to change it instead. This young man is in fact a victim of the society. He did not have the right environment to learn his rights and duties and to learn how to behave as a citizen. How did the judge come up with 3 years.why not 4 10 or 1 month etc. Is it a magic number written in the constitution. This should warn the Moroccan citizens and give a ranking of sentences in relation to the type of insult.... |
haras
said:
|
Educative video on our state of ignorance Sincerely, The guy is ranting about nonsense... this is the kind of ideas that got many countries in a disastrous shape, Algeria is a good example of those great projects of industrialization, that turn out to be a dumpster for the state finances, some people are still in the 70s... That is the main problem, the extreme left have no clue on how to manage and create real economic growth, but you can surely count on them to make you dream, industrialization is no longer the state business, all the government can do is to create the right atmosphere... even in China they understood that... More importantly, the words are crass, and the tone is out of any level of decency... as much as I hate it, I'd have to agree that 3 years is too much, but I still think he should be fined severely for it, I won't accept someone calling me a "dog", and I don't think that the king, or any other official or non official, should be called that way either... I agree with people contesting the jail sentence but I won't accept it that the same people do not start by condemning the insults the guy is proliferating, we should not confuse freedom of speech for freedom to insult, and there is a difference between calling the king dictator, and calling him a DOG... if "hashak" is what come to mind when you hear it, maybe it is no longer a speech... |
man en blanc
said:
|
... It boils down to insecurity. The regime is so paranoid and so fearful of losing its grip on power that they go after anybody who dares to question its legitimacy. I wonder if it realizes that this misguided strategy is backfiring on them : a year ago, noone was demanding the downfall of the king, today, it is part of the rising chorus of angry voices. What to do? Jail everyone? People are no longer afraid. But the regime is almost blind to the shifting grounds beneath it. |
Morcelli
said:
|
... Pretty articulate young men even though I do not agree that decisons about Morocco are taken in Tel Aviv as they are incorrectly stating. The authorities are making a big mistake arresting people for expressing their opinion. They have not learned from what happened in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya.....etc. They simply do not understand that no one is scared anymore and if they have to die, they will die in order to be for others to be free. |
Write comment
