Heba Press / Agencies
Journalist Hamid El Mahdawi said that he was sentenced on Monday to one and a half years in prison after a court convicted him on charges of “defamation, slander, and public insult” against Justice Minister Abdel Latif Wehbe.
The Rabat Court of First Instance also ruled against El Mahdaoui, editor-in-chief of the Badil website, to pay civil compensation amounting to 150 million centimes.
El Mahdaoui is known to be one of the harshest critics of government policies.
El Mahdaoui’s trial came after he accused Wehbe of fraud and other charges in a video clip on his website. Wehbe denied these accusations.
Al-Mahdawi told Reuters, “I am originally innocent and I did not expect a prison sentence… I have not yet made a decision to appeal.”
“I presented all the arguments in defense of myself in court,” he added.
Khadija Riyadi, an official at the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, said, “Mahdawi was tried under the criminal code instead of the press law, which does not include custodial penalties.”
Al-Mahdawi was previously arrested, and the Casablanca Criminal Court sentenced him to three years in prison on charges of “failing to report a crime affecting state security.”
Al-Mahdawi was released in July 2020 after spending three years in prison on charges of “failing to report a crime affecting state security.”
