Mohamed Ojar, the former Minister of Justice, said, “He regrets the issuance of judicial rulings against journalists or their arrest for any reason,” stressing that he personally would not have sued a journalist if he were Minister of Justice, but at the same time he stressed the minister’s right to resort to the judiciary.
In response to a question regarding the ruling issued against journalist Hamid El Mahdaoui, imprisonment for one and a half years and a fine of 150 million centimes for the benefit of the current Minister of Justice, Abdel Latif Wehbe, Ojar said during his hosting of a symposium at the Foundation of the Jurist of Tétouan on Monday evening: “As a former Minister of Justice and the last Minister of Public Prosecution in the history of… Morocco, “I commit myself to the duty of caution in commenting on the work of the judiciary as it is an independent authority.”
But he added, “As a citizen and as a human rights activist, I feel sorry, whatever the reason, when any journalist is arrested, and when this type of ruling is issued.”
Ogar continued, saying, “We say with all objectivity and integrity that resorting to the judiciary is a human right… If the Minister of Justice was dissatisfied with a situation in which he considered that he had been subjected to slander, abuse, and slander, and he resorted to the judiciary… we are not facing arbitrary arrest or anything like that, but rather we are facing… Ordinary ruler.
In connection with this issue, Ojar said that in Morocco it is time to launch a real dialogue to find a balance between freedom of expression and preventing abuse, slander and defamation.
He added, “I personally feel pain due to the horrific targeting of institutions in Morocco, including defamation and demonization of security institutions and sovereign institutions without objective data.” “We cannot continue to watch national institutions insult and humiliate.” Ogar says.
