Yesterday a court in Casablanca rejected the appeal by two Moroccan weekly news magazines, TelQuel and Nichane, against the interior ministry seizure and destruction 0f 100,000 copies of both weeklies for publishing the polls on the 10-year reign of King Mohammed VI. The polls showed that Moroccans overwhelmingly found his rule "positive".See our guest opinion overview of the issue: Morocco squanders a golden opportunity
"The complaint by the TelQuel group asking for the annulment of the interior ministry's decision is acceptable in its form, but not in substance," ruled the court after a hearing.
The "monarchy in Morocco cannot be the object of a debate, even by opinion poll," Communications Minister Khalid Naciri said on Saturday, arguing that the two weeklies had "forgotten" this rule.
TelQuel challenged the decision as "illegal", but the judges upheld a tradition that the monarchy was no matter for debate in the press in the north African kingdom.
The interior ministry justified its action on the grounds of the country's press code.
This left TelQuel's lawyer, Youssef Chahbi, vainly to argue in court that "the minister of the interior has the right to seize all articles that represent a threat to public order, but in the case of TelQuel and Nichane, it was a poll favourable to the king."
On Monday night, Moroccan authorities also banned sales in the country of the issue of French daily Le Monde dated August 4 because it carried the same poll about the king's first decade in power, which was widely celebrated across the country last week.
Communications Minister Naciri said that "the process of unmuzzling the press in Morocco is irreversible", but he argued that the two weeklies had overreached themselves.
The Casablanca court agreed, but its judgement and the interior ministry's decision were criticised by advocates of press freedom inside Morocco and beyond its borders.
"The context is such that any reverse steps (in press freedom) would be catastrophic for all that the country has achieved in terms of the economy and of its image," said Jamal Baraoui, a columnist with the Aujourd'hui Le Maroc daily. He added that "the king has democratic convictions."
"The complaint by the TelQuel group asking for the annulment of the interior ministry's decision is acceptable in its form, but not in substance," ruled the court after a hearing.
The "monarchy in Morocco cannot be the object of a debate, even by opinion poll," Communications Minister Khalid Naciri said on Saturday, arguing that the two weeklies had "forgotten" this rule.
TelQuel challenged the decision as "illegal", but the judges upheld a tradition that the monarchy was no matter for debate in the press in the north African kingdom.
Ahmed Benchemsi, director of TelQuel and Nichane
This left TelQuel's lawyer, Youssef Chahbi, vainly to argue in court that "the minister of the interior has the right to seize all articles that represent a threat to public order, but in the case of TelQuel and Nichane, it was a poll favourable to the king."
On Monday night, Moroccan authorities also banned sales in the country of the issue of French daily Le Monde dated August 4 because it carried the same poll about the king's first decade in power, which was widely celebrated across the country last week.
Communications Minister Naciri said that "the process of unmuzzling the press in Morocco is irreversible", but he argued that the two weeklies had overreached themselves.
The Casablanca court agreed, but its judgement and the interior ministry's decision were criticised by advocates of press freedom inside Morocco and beyond its borders.
The National Union of the Moroccan Press (SNPM) and international watchdog Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF - Reporters Without Borders) both condemned the seizure of TelQuel and Nichane.
SNPM president Younes Moujahid called for the "passing of a law in Morocco to regulate opinion polls on the basis of respect for professional and democratic principles. The state must continue to preserve the freedom of the press," he said. "We need judicial guarantees on that subject."
"The context is such that any reverse steps (in press freedom) would be catastrophic for all that the country has achieved in terms of the economy and of its image," said Jamal Baraoui, a columnist with the Aujourd'hui Le Maroc daily. He added that "the king has democratic convictions."
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