MOROCCO: Moroccan court reduces prison sentence to journalist who published intelligence information warning of al-Qaeda attacks

A Moroccan court on Tuesday (September 18) handed a reduced prison sentence to a journalist who published leaked intelligence information about an al-Qaeda plot. Mustapha Hourmatallah, a reporter for al-Watan Alaan (The Homeland Now), who failed to attend court today, was sentenced to eight months in prison on Aug. 15, drawing criticism from human rights lawyers and press freedom activists. He was allowed to leave jail this month pending a decision by the Casablanca appeal court, raising hopes among his supporters that he would soon be freed. But the court on Tuesday only reduced his sentence by one month. Hourmatallah's editor Aderrahim Ariri had a six-month suspended prison term cut to five months and the court upheld fines against both men. In an interview with Reuters Ariri expressed his disappointment over the reduced jail term. "We were prepared mentally to hear a verdict declaring innocence, but today unfortunately we were disappointed by the sentence. As I have stated in the past, regardless of the court's verdicts, I no longer give any importance to this case because one of the reasons of my existence is to practice journalism in the same way it is practiced worldwide. I am not a salesperson who trades in issues or court sentences," he said. Following the court's decision, the lawyer for the defence protested the journalists' innocence. "A guilty verdict in this case is totally unacceptable. Therefore we considered the appeal court's decision to free Mustafa Hormatollah a positive step, and a sign that the court had understood the mistakes it made before, and step towards a verdict of innocence," lawyer Khaled Sefiani said. The article in question was entitled "The Secret Reports Behind Morocco's State of Alert" and contained details of a military intelligence report that al-Qaeda had decided to send 12 Arab and four Pakistani fighters to carry out attacks in Morocco and other North African states. The journalists were not sentenced under Morocco's press law but under criminal charges of "receiving and concealing stolen documents". A Moroccan military court also sentenced eight army officers to up to five years imprisonment for leaking intelligence information to al-Watan. North Africa has been on alert since al-Qaeda's regional wing, Algeria-based al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb, threatened in July to step up its war against "corrupt" regional rulers and their Western allies. Government officials say Morocco is committed to further press freedom but journalists should not feel above the law.

ITN Source | September 19, 2007

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