Two journalists imprisoned in Algeria and Morocco attract the attention of humanitarian associations

Journalists Omar Radi and Khaled Drareni.AFP

In Morocco and Algeria, there are two journalists imprisoned for months who monopolize the attention of the main humanitarian organizations, inside and outside the Maghreb.

They are the Algerian Khaled Drareni, 40, and the Moroccan Omar Radi, 34. Drareni has been in prison since March and was sentenced in August to two years in prison, accused of "inciting an illegal demonstration" and of "Undermine national unity."

Radi was jailed on July 29 and his trial began in September.

He is accused of crimes that could lead to several decades in prison: "attacking the internal security of the State, attacking the external security ... and finally," rape and attack against modesty.

Several organizations, such as Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International, are demanding their release and point out that the trial against both seeks to silence the critical voices that remain in their countries.

The two journalists knew each other personally and their names are linked to the word Hirak, which means movement in Arabic.

Drareni was a correspondent in Algeria for the French television channel TV5 Monde, a representative of Reporters Without Borders and the founder of the

.

It has 148,000 followers on Twitter and has become a must-see for information about the Algerian Hirak, the protests that began on February 22, 2019 against the regime and suspended since last March due to the pandemic.

The vice president of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights (Laddh), Said Salhi, indicates by telephone from Algiers that the sentence of Drareni is a “message for all free journalists who continue to resist and defend the freedom of expression".

"In Algeria we are witnessing, and in the entire Maghreb region, with the small nuanced exception of Tunisia, attacks against fundamental freedoms, against free and discordant voices," he concludes.

For his part, Radi closely followed the Rif Hirak, the protests in Al Hoceima, which began in 2017 that ended with hundreds of young people imprisoned and many others who emigrated to Europe.

After learning of the harsh sentences pronounced in 2019 against the main activists of the Rif Hirak, Omar Radi wrote a tweet in which he said in reference to the judge: "Neither forget nor forgiveness for these officials without dignity."

That message earned him a four-month suspended prison sentence, although it was not effective.

Radi was protected by an international solidarity campaign.

In June, Amnesty International revealed that Radi's cell phone had been spied on by the Pegasus program, which - in theory - can only be acquired by governments to combat crime and terrorism.

The Moroccan Administration denied any involvement in the events.

As a result of that Amnesty International revelation, the journalist was summoned nine times to the police station.

Eric Goldstein, the Maghreb head of Human Rights Watch, wrote an article in August pointing out that Algeria and Morocco are rival countries in diplomacy, with borders closed since 1994. "But they both agree to muzzle the press," Goldstein added.

The head of HRW recalls that both the Algerian Constitution and the Moroccan press law of 2016 "proclaim that no journalist can be imprisoned for press crimes." However, the two States are targeting these two journalists while saying that they respect the freedom of the press. Morocco's operating mode consists of launching a plethora of criminal accusations against the persecuted journalist, while the Algerian authorities prefer to resort to crimes that the penal code defines very vaguely. "

Reports of sexual crimes

Radi's case became more complex when last August the complaint filed against him by a Moroccan journalist was revealed, accusing him of raping her on the night of July 12-13.

Radi maintains that the relationship was consensual.

And the humanitarian organizations that support him demand a fair process.

In Morocco, there are several journalists imprisoned for crimes of a sexual nature.

One of them is the owner and director of the newspaper

, Taufic Buachrín, sentenced in 2018 to 12 years in prison for rape and attempted rape.

Suleimán Raisuni, 47, who was a star columnist for that same newspaper, has also remained in prison since last May.

Raisuni was arrested after the LGBT community activist Adam Mohamed denounced him for an alleged rape attempt committed two years earlier, in 2018.

A Moroccan activist requesting anonymity points out: “Algeria and Morocco only coincide in repressing independent journalists.

But while Algerians continue to use traditional repressive material, Moroccans have invented a sexual strategy that allows them to sign up for the international

campaign

And so they present themselves to the West as a progressive regime ”.

Moroccan independent journalist Salaheddine Lemaizi, a member of the Omar Radi support committee, notes: “For our committee, the case of Omar Radi and that of Khaled Drareni are similar. And they show that the two states are joining forces to suppress free journalists. Omar's only crime has been that of having done his job to the end, without concessions and with very little sincerity in the profession. Its place is the newsroom, not the jail ”.