Al Jazeera reports that a Moroccan Court of Appeals has handed down only slightly reduced sentences for reporter Mustapha Hurmatallah and editor Abderrahim Ariri of Al Watan Alaan. The pair were originally charged for publishing allegedly secret information related to heightened government security in response to an anticipated Al Qaeda attack. At present Hurmatallah faces seven months in jail, and Ariri a five month suspended sentence; both are being assessed 1,000 dirham fines.
In general, in a free society the dissemination of information by the press is not subject to criminal sanctions. (Illegal dissemination of information by a member of the government or armed forces is another matter.) For a narrow range of offenses -- primarily libel and slander -- the press like anyone else should be at least theoretically subject to monetary penalties, but in the United States even these are very unlikely to be assessed for defamation of any public figure (George Bush included). (The United States is ranked 53rd on Reporters Without Borders' ranking of countries by the freedom of their press; Morocco is 97.)
Morocco will never be a free society so long as journalists are being put in jail for doing their jobs.
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