3 Moroccan weeklies closed after carrying allegations about prime minister
By The Associated Press and Freedom Forum Online staff
12.04.00
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The French-language titles Le
Journal and Demain
and the Arab-language Assahifa
reported last week on charges that Abderrahmane Youssoufi was kept aware of a
conspiracy against Hassan II, who died in July 1999.
In August 1972, four jet fighters machinegunned a plane bringing the
king home from a trip to France. The plane landed safely and the monarch was
unharmed.
Late last month, Le Journal
shocked the country by publishing a letter from a former political opponent,
Mohamed Basri, claiming that Youssoufi was aware of the plot and had been kept
abreast of its developments.
Youssoufi charged that the newspapers were intent on destabilizing
this North African kingdom. He said his decision to close them was in line with
"the protection of the interests of the nation and the sacred character of its
institutions."
The British Broadcasting Corp. quoted Aboubakr Jamai, editor of
Le Journal, as saying, "I never
thought the authorities could take such a move to silence the freedom of the
press."
The closings brought to 10 the number of publications shut down this
year. On Nov. 6, the bureau chief of
the French news agency Agence France-Presse was expelled from Morocco.
Before the closings were ordered, Le
Journal had published a call for the prime minister to resign,
while Demain placed a picture of
Youssoufi on its front page and asked: "Did he plot against the monarchy?"
The BBC quoted Morocco's communication minister, Mohamed Achaari, as
saying the three newspapers had "launched campaigns with a fabricated report
against the political stability of Morocco."
The newspapers' allegations were part of a "strategy that threatens
the very foundations of our political existence and the democratic evolution of
Morocco," Achaari said. Officials have not detailed who they believe is behind
such a strategy.
Moroccans have lauded a new era since King Hassan's son, Mohamed VI,
assumed the throne upon his father's death. The reform-minded king has made
vast changes, including firing Driss Basri, the interior minister who for
decades served as his father's iron fist.
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