Interview with Moroccan blogger Mohammed Erraji
2008-09-16
Moroccan blogger Mohammed Erraji provides his response to the judicial charges made against him and his take on freedom of expression in Morocco.
Interview by Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia in Rabat – 16/09/08
 [Naoufel Cherkaoui] Moroccan blogger Mohammed Erraji speaks to Magharebia about his recent arrest, prison conditions and the state of the freedom of expression in Morocco. |
One day after publishing an article critical of the special favours the King sometimes accords his citizens, Moroccan blogger Mohammed Erraji was arrested on Friday (September 5th) and swiftly sentenced to two years in prison. The first Moroccan blogger to be jailed for his writings, Erraji was released on bail less than a week later after an appellate court found that the first instance court had made mistakes in his trial. Magharebia caught up with Erraji to discuss the recent events and how they relate to the larger issue of press freedom in Morocco.
Magharebia: How did you get the provisional release?
Mohammed Erraji: I submitted a request for provisional release to the prison ward Friday morning and at noon the same day I was referred to the presiding judge of the first instance court, who told me that my request was accepted, and that the next hearing was scheduled for September 16th. After that, I was released pending the next hearing.
Magharebia: How were the investigations conducted with you?
Erraji: A group of intelligence officers came to my home on Wednesday, but I wasn't there at the time. They told my family members that I should drop by to see them. I went on Thursday, at 10:00 AM, to the headquarters of the scientific research unit and I didn't leave there until 5:00 PM. The investigation with me was carried out by the officers of that unit under good conditions and with respect. I was asked to come back the following day.
When I returned Friday morning, the investigation was completed by the same unit for about three hours. After that, I was brought to the Judicial Police, where its staff conducted, in their own turn, investigations with me for almost five hours about my political and intellectual affiliations. I was kept in custody, and my suffering started because the cell I was locked up at was in terrible condition. Investigations continued on Saturday and Sunday.
I was then escorted by policemen to my house Sunday morning, where they searched my room, especially my books and my computer. After that, they returned me to the police station, where I signed the police citations that they had prepared. Afterwards, I was handcuffed and referred to the king's vice attorney at the court of first instance, who started to ask me about the motive behind my writing of certain sentences in the article in question. The inquiry didn't last more than four minutes. After waiting more than an hour, a police officer came and told me that I had been sentenced to two years in prison. Afterwards, I was taken to jail.
They brought me back Monday morning to the court of first instance to attend the court hearing, which didn't last for more than four minutes. The presiding judge just asked me about my position regarding the charge against me, i.e. breach of the respect due to the King. I denied that I had any intentions whatsoever to offend the King. When he asked about my intention to name a lawyer to defend me, I told him that I lacked the financial resources to do that.
Magharebia: Your articles are characterised by severe criticism of the social and economic conditions in Morocco. What is the motive behind that?
Erraji: The motive is my enthusiasm for this country, because I wish for my country to make progress and reach a certain level of democracy and respect for human rights, in order not to allow this to remain mere ink on paper. Although I resort to sarcasm and severity in writing my articles, I never had the intention to offend anyone, neither the King nor anybody else.
Magharebia: Will you take the situation you are in now into consideration in your future writings?
Erraji: I haven't yet made a decision whether to continue writing or not. The days I spent in prison made me fear even carrying the pen, which, to me, now means signing a new prison sentence. Therefore, I will think carefully before I make a decision whether or not to continue writing.
Magharebia: You have not issued any apologies up till now. Does it mean that you consider yourself not guilty?
Erraji: Even now, I can't believe what's happening to me in terms of judicial pursuit and imprisonment. I don't think I'm offending anyone, including the King, in my articles. I was very surprised when I was summoned for investigation. If I become certain in the future that I have offended the King or anybody else, I will be willing to offer my apology. But now, I think I have not done anyone any injustice.
Magharebia: Aren't you seeking a royal pardon like the case of Mourtada?
Erraji: I was waiting for a royal pardon during the days I spent in prison on the occasion of Ramadan or Eid El Fitr because the psychological condition I was suffering during those days was very terrible and unbearable.
Magharebia: In your opinion, what is the reality of the freedom of expression in Morocco?
Erraji: I think there are certain entities that don't want freedom of expression to progress. It makes me sad to see my own country, which I would like to see taking quicker strides ahead, live in this retreat in terms of democracy. I want my country to embrace the doctrine of democracy once and for all. In addition, we should not continue to think that freedom of expression poses dangers to the country or the royal establishment.
I reject the principle of leaving Morocco to start criticising its conditions from overseas. I prefer to live inside my country. I also absolutely reject receiving external financial assistance to do so. The presence of freedom of expression in a certain country indicates that the country respects the rules of democracy. If the condition in Morocco in terms of crackdowns on the freedom of expression continues, this will mean that there are certain issues that the state wants to hide; something that will make the citizen doubt the very existence of democracy. I think the only solution to work towards the progress of Morocco is to expand the scope of respect for freedom of expression.
Magharebia: What were you thinking about during your days of detention?
Erraji: The only thing I was thinking about is freedom. I was distracted throughout my days of detention, and I wasn't even talking to other prisoners who were with me. My mind was tense thinking about freedom. I can say now that if my detention had continued for more days, I would have lost my mind because of the unbearable conditions of arrest. The thing that weighed heavily on me was the charge against me. I respect the King, and I consider the monarchy to be the guarantor of Morocco's stability. I was thinking about one question only: how can I spend two years of my life in prison? Even now, I haven't recovered from the shock of hearing the sentence against me. I hope that the court will issue a ruling for my acquittal.
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morcelli Jawad Posted 2008-09-16
It sounds like Mr Erraji learned his lesson. A week a Moroccan jail can certainly make a difference. I urge you to keep your mouth shut et mind your own business. You are poor and cannot afford an attorney then why are you blogging. Don't you know that blogging is a no no in Morocco. Besides you keep talking about freedom of expression, what would you accomplish with the freedom? you want freedom then free yourself from Blogging dude! You want democracy? Sorry, you won't get it by simply expressing your feeling about the love that you have for your country via the internet wires. Besides, do you really think that if the king stops this grima business, Morocco will thrive?? go tell that to the recipients of the grimas. What do you see wrong about the commander of the faithfulth helping his subjects here and there? You couldn't find some thing better to blog/brag about? hun? What made you think that you deserve the pardon and we are not in Eid El fitr? do you think that we are going to start handling pardons on special requests?? If you want, a pardon, then you have to time your blogging. make it coincide with Muslim and national holiday. Look dude, Benchemsi from Telquel "lacked" respect to the king but he is not in jail. He is still waiting for his sentence. You know how that wait goes;) Well my dear friend Benchemsi will have to wait for long time. Same thing goes for the daughter of le mec d' al adl wal ihsan, she also lacked respect to the commander of the faithful, guess what she is waiting too. Keep your mouth shut and don't try to be the hero. Who said we want democracy? We are fine as we are, democracy will eliminate bakshish and how are we supposed to live without bakshish my friend. Vive la repression et vive le roi commander of the faithful. thx
acharif moulay abdellah bouskraoui Posted 2008-09-16
“Appeal to the Press” Gentlemen of the press are called upon to feel the weight of their responsibility, a weight that so very heavy without being up to par and without feeling responsible for playing their role in maintaining the order. Thus, it is to you, pressmen, that I am casting this message: May Praise be to God Alone and may blessing and respect be upon the Prophet, His family and His companions. Dear Moroccans, in this letter, I invite you to be soldier at the disposition of your country. Every Moroccan plays an important role in the development of his country. And, as you know, each of us has a young and dynamic king who gives his very best for our country, a king who has put Morocco on the right track to democracy, justice and human rights. Dear Moroccans, you are all involved in being a part of you country’s development wherever you are. I invite you to also encourage tourism and investors to come to Morocco, as we are a safe country. And, we could offer ourselves as an administrative service that would be at the disposition of investors. Dear Moroccans, defend Morocco wherever you are! Be the voice of your country! Be proud of our King Mohammed VI, the leader of our nation just as you were proud of our Holy King Hassan II, father of the nation. In Morocco, the sovereign are always strong thanks to power the strong attachment between the Moroccan people give them. This attachment is made so strong by their ties to elbaiia according to the Islamic Sharia, an eternal pact between the king and a people blessed by God and the history of the Moroccans. But, certain pressmen have ulterior motives and want to take advantage of the King’s tolerance in order to sow their poison.
Ego Posted 2008-09-16
Indeed, let us all hope you will be freed, Mohammed. You conviction would be a shame and an indelible abomination on the pediment of Morocco’s legal system.
Farah Posted 2008-09-16
This is a very good interview you can get into the young man's mind and taste what he experienced. It is such an accurate description of being detained in Morocco and neeeds to be understood in the "west." This sort of thing divides Morocco from Europe and as a Moroccan in the UK what I want to know about most is progress to join the EU. Erraji is at the forefront of Morroccos' bid to join the EU. Morocco is geographically aligned to become part of Europe but its thinking is way behind, long live the views of Erraji!
Moulay Hisham Posted 2008-09-17
Erraji has highlighted problems which affect many countries around the world but simply criticising the situation without providing potential solutions to the problem does nothing to help. I find many of these blogs are nothing but random angry rants about a variety of issues but when they are confronted about what THEY are doing to help the situation there is silence. There are many people in Maghrebi society who work tirelessly to progress our societies and they don't have time to rant and rave in their virtual blogs.
محمد بهاء الدين Posted 2008-09-17
It would have been wiser to ask the blogger Erraji about the amount and orig source in of the bail because he doesn’t even have money to cover the fees of the lawyer defending him as he said in his response.
Marouane Posted 2008-09-17
First of all, Jawad stupid. He is either an unemployed, under-educated reject of the weak social system in Morocco or his family has a little money and power that deprives him of any decent education or original thought. A failed social system should not be blamed on the King. The King represents the cultural beauty and as you said is the commander of the faithful. The failed social system has a large umbrella that includes a lack of free speech, with many culprits: corruption, lack of education, lack of health care, overall lack of intellectual discovery, and an unnerving level of social hypocracy. The system is harsh, unforgiving, and unjust in visibly measurable ways by the way Moroccans treat other Moroccans,women, their children, and non-muslims. Injustice is blinding, deafening, and retarding!! As for Morocco joining the EU. Never. Turkey can't get in, so how do you expect Morocco to be accepted. Morocco needs to go back to the basics of faith, education, health, and look at improving the Nation of Africa, rather than wasting away American and European monetary support on cars, drugs, clothes, and other material objects. Denial is what prevents Morocco's greatness. The longer Morocco denies its traditions, it's roots, and contradicts its faith in daily life, the longer it hinders its own growth. Stop thinking "Senegaless" people are 'black' and savage. Lose your own racism against "berbers", start testing for SIDA, stop stealing from tourists, stop drinking and doing other 'haram' actions, and you will find Morocco's own greatness. Morocco can be better than Europe, so go out and learn and ask questions, self discover.
moroccanfly Posted 2008-09-17
And, there you have it: once again, one of our own got himself in trouble for no reason. It must be known that in Morocco nothing can be changed without Royal will and that the first to make things progress, will be treated like Mr Erraji. With one blow, everyone draws back before the power of the state apparatus. If a citizen wants to improve things in Morocco, he need to act violently and with a well thought-out strategy, more ingenious than what our compatriots working in the security forces can do. But, that said, we need to abandon any sort of social life and transform into some kind of offensive creature that is worse than you-know-who!
Said de Casablanca Posted 2008-09-18
I did not know about this story until I learned of it from your website. Thank you. I am Moroccan and I am appalled by such cases. The kingdom’s officials have nothing better to do than to waste the last public goods on investigating a citizen whose only wrong was having expressed publicly what many already think. The cops handcuffed this innocent when one of their own was shot by a member of the royal family last week in Casablanca, the latter remaining in complete impunity to this day. The judges get their “justice” over with quickly, further discrediting the judicial apparatus, which is already known for its corruption. The result of the proceedings: an innocent is struck down by what he has been subjected to and the country suffers a disastrous image, and the only thing positive is that the audience to Mohammed Erraji’s writings is growing. I for one am one of the first to want to glance over them. In any country that respects itself, incompetent officials responsible for such a disaster would be punished; here, we ask how the high-ups think. We ought to be asking if the high-ups even think! This is lamentable!
acharif moulay abdellah bouskraoui Posted 2008-09-18
To all the bloggers and human rights NGOs and the press: May Praise be to God alone. In this modest message, I ask you to support our Moroccan state’s efforts in all domains: socio-economic, political, human rights. I ask that you open up all possibilities for goodwill. It is this effort that His Majesty, Mohammed VI—may God help him—has so taken to. Dear bloggers and human rights NGOs, Morocco is a strong and sovereign state. We must all try to open a new page of agreement and to join in our efforts to make Morocco an avant-garde country in the developing world under the aegis of our noble king, His Majesty, Mohamed VI. Dear bloggers and human rights NGOs, I ask that you make this effort, not forgetting that we are an Arab and Muslim country, preserving our heritage and our particularities and remaining attached to our strong ties with the Baia and our oath of allegiance to the throne. It is our attachment to our particularities, customs and traditions that, as a Muslim country, makes us a strong state and able to overcome all challenges. —Signed, Your brother Moulay Abdellah Bouskraoui.
بيداح انزكان اكادير Posted 2008-09-19
Who has the merit for this? The criminal chamber in the court of appeal in Agadir ordered yesterday Thursday to reject the prosecution of Erraji Mohamed, a reporter, correspondent and colleague of Hespress online magazine from the charges levied against him the cancellation of the charge. He was released after he had benefited of release on bail last Thursday, September 11. During the hearing of last Tuesday September 16, 2008, there was a juridical debate between the defence and public prosecutor about the prosecution and accusation instrument according to the provisions of the journalism law before the criminal chamber listed the case of Mohamed Erraji, reporter and correspondent of the online magazine Hespress for deliberation on Thursday, September 18, 2008. The same chamber responded to the formal arguments and petition of the defence of the defendant to rule on the case in a separate order. Courtesy to the leftists in the South in that case. Thank you. To be continued.
Anonymous Posted 2008-09-20
Apparently, this Moulay Abdellah Bouskraoui is doing all he can to not be imprisoned for his own part by the king. (I am joking.) I am happy for the young Erraji and I hope that he will finally be acquitted. I advise him to not give up so easily and not to stop his writing. He is still young. I ask that whoever did this interview with him encourage him to continue writing, otherwise what a waste it would be. Have a nice breakfast!
مناش حسن Posted 2008-09-27
I want to confirm that 1) freedom of expression is accepted in Morocco to a certain extent. It has red lines which shouldn’t be violated. This limits thought and creativity. In Morocco, it is authorized to criticise the rule of God, God forgives me, scorn the statements and Hadiths of the prophet Mohamed peace be upon him, but you shouldn’t criticise the rules of people of highest ranks even if they are wrong. Therefore, we won't be able to eradicate backwardness for many decades. 2) Those who say that the Moroccan people are in solidarity are wrong. The solidarity of Moroccans is very limited. Their disagreement is very clear even within the same family, tribe and region. King Mohamed VI is a warrantor for strengthening solidarity. However, most people expect its collapse. The most zealous people for breaking up solidarity are the fanatic Amazighs, the third generation of lazy young people who spend most of their time in front of TVs or computer screens. Their only thought is to be outside the country. In their opinion, development and progress come from the outside and the inside has its own people.
Jamal Morelli Posted 2008-09-29
acharif moulay abdellah bouskraoui: " Dear bloggers and human rights NGOs, I ask that you make this effort, not forgetting that we are an Arab... country" Dude, you got lost in a patch of the good brown from Ketama. We're about as a Arab as Moulay Idriss's first kid. (Or do you think he imported his wife from al ashraq...?) Goofy patriotic bluster. A cut heals with the proper medicine, not wrapping it with a flag, khoya.
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