Morocco: Mohammed Erraji Provisionally Released

Today, Moroccans rejoiced at the news that Mohammed Erraji, the blogger who was arrested and quickly jailed, has been let out on bail. But the rejoicing was short-lived, as bloggers discuss a system mired in its ways and Erraji's upcoming retrial.

A Moroccan About the World Around Him explains how Erraji was freed and why the Moroccan judicial system refuses change:

Why such an underhanded intervention? considering the international response to the convulsive judgment Erraji was victim of, the stealthy intervention seeks to depict the Moroccan justice as a functional system, the Moroccan governance as democratic and stable; these characteristics are a catnip to foreign investors. Domestically, such an intervention will avert a greater erosion of confidence in the justice system.

But why did such a travesty happen in the first place? Are the officials who orchestrated it so blatantly incompetent? They are not. Is the judge who sent Erraji to rot in jail so ignorant of judicial procedures? He is not. They are simply following a deeply ingrained political and social tradition in Morocco: ingratiating themselves with the Palace hoping for a “GRIMA.”

Myrtus explains the story, but is remiss that Erraji must still stand trial:

Agadir's Court of Appeals has decided today to grant freedom to blogger Mohamed Erraji, who was sentenced to two years in prison just a few days ago. The court based its decision on the fact that the prosecution did not comply with certain provisions with regards to the press code.

However, Mohammed Erraji is not completely out of the woods yet. He's scheduled to appear in court again on September 16th.

Blogger Ibn Kafka explains the law surrounding Erraji's case in this post [fr] and has called for a blog strike on Monday in support of Erraji. My own blog contains an English translation of his message.

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