Morocco scraps blogger's jail sentence

RABAT, MOROCCO: A Moroccan appeals court on Thursday canceled a two-year jail sentence given to a local blogger for disparaging King Mohammed and the royal family, court officials and lawyers said.

Last week, Mohamed Erraji was jailed and fined 5,000 dirhams ($626). He was later released on bail pending the appeals court ruling.

"The case is not acceptable and the case was abandoned and thrown out of court," said Ahmed Belouch, presiding judge at the appeals court in the southern city of Agadir.

Erraji wrote in online newspaper Hespress that Morocco had been destroyed by the practice of handing out charity or gifts such as taxi licences to a lucky few, which encouraged people to beg.

"This has made the Moroccans a people without dignity, who live by donations and gifts," he wrote in reference to the King's charity work.

Judge Belouch cited flaws in prosecuting the case of the 29-year-old blogger, including the failure to summon him to attend trial 15 days before he actually appeared in court and his unlawful detention ahead of the trial.

Family members and human rights groups said police arrested Erraji on September 5 and his trial last 10 minutes. He had no defense lawyer.

"The ruling today showed the situation of human rights has changed in Morocco and there is improvement in court dealings with cases related to rights of opinion and free press," said Abdellatif Ouammou, who was Erraji lawyer.