Bouachrine was arrested in 2018, and he kept stressing that his trial in the sexual assault case was “political” and related to his critical editorials in “Akhbar Al-Youm” newspaper, which he was the publishing director of and which ceased publication in 2021.
The family of Moroccan journalist Taoufik Bouachrine, who has been detained since 2018, said Thursday that he is a victim of “mistreatment” in prison while his health is poor, calling for “urgent intervention to save him.”
His wife, Asmaa Moussaoui, told AFP that Bouachrine, 54, is suffering from “mistreatment by the prison administration” in which he is serving a 15-year sentence, for being convicted of sexual assault cases against several women, which he has been denying.
She explained that “he has been suffering from terrible shoulder pain for three years… As a result, the prison doctor advised him to undergo treatment in a hospital outside,” noting that he also had diabetes.
She added, “The administration agreed to transfer him to the hospital, but on the condition that he be handcuffed… which he refused, considering it an insult to his dignity and humanity.”
In an appeal she posted on Facebook, she called for “urgent intervention to save him.”
The Moroccan Prisons Administration did not immediately comment, but made it clear in a statement on Saturday that the measures rejected by Bouachrine “do not harm the dignity of prisoners, and are only linked to securing their removal to external hospitals.”
And she confirmed that he “enjoys the necessary health care, whether inside the institution or in external hospitals.”
Bouachrine was arrested in 2018, and he kept stressing that his trial in the sexual assault case was “political” and related to his critical editorials in “Akhbar Al-Youm” newspaper, which he was the publishing director of and which ceased publication in 2021.
His trial sparked criticism from human rights activists inside and outside Morocco. These are the criticisms that were repeated in the trials of two other journalists, Omar Al-Radi and Suleiman Al-Raysouni. They have been detained since 2020 and are serving prison sentences of 6 and 5 years, respectively, in two separate sexual assault cases, with the addition of a charge of “communicating” to the first.
Last year, a Human Rights Watch report condemned the use of “repressive techniques” to silence journalists and dissidents in Morocco, with trials in sexual assault cases.
In the face of these criticisms, the Moroccan authorities always affirm that these journalists were tried in cases of common right that have nothing to do with freedom of the press, stressing the independence of the judiciary.
Lawyers for the civil party in these cases also stress the “rights of the victims.”
Two weeks ago, Amnesty International condemned the “denial” of Bouachrine, Raissouni and Radi of “the right to read and write.” This was denied by the General Delegation of Prisons.
Morocco has fallen to 144th place in the annual press freedom report for the year 2023 issued by Reporters Without Borders.
A recommendation of the European Parliament at the beginning of the year criticized the deterioration of freedom of expression in Morocco, sparking sharp criticism in Rabat.
In a related context, the Rabat Court of Cassation upheld, on Thursday, a three-year prison sentence for lawyer and opposition politician Mohamed Zayan, in a case brought against him by the Ministry of the Interior, according to what his son, Ali Reza Zayan, told AFP.
Zayan, 80, was arrested in November. He was charged with 11 counts, including “insulting the judiciary and organized bodies,” “broadcasting false facts and allegations,” and “sexual harassment.”
Zayan, who was among Bouachrine’s lawyer, considered that he was pursued because of his critical views of the authorities in recent years, after he remained close to them in previous years, as he had previously assumed the Ministry of Human Rights in the nineties.
