Maâti Monjib has been released after 20 days of hunger strike

Moroccan journalist, human rights defender and historian Maâti Monjib was released 23 March 2021 from the Al Arjat 2 prison near Rabat.

On 4 March 2021, Monjib started a hunger strike in protest of the one-year prison sentence he received on 27 January. With a heart condition and diabetes, there were little doubt that his life was endangered. Among many regional and international organisations, IMS called for his release.

Maâti Monjib was convicted of “fraud” and “undermining state security” by a Rabat court – charges linked to the Moroccan Association for Investigative Journalism, which Monjib co-founded in 2011. His lawyers denounce his “conviction in absentia” after five years of procedure and his “arbitrary detention” since the end of December 2020.

Due to his critical journalism and human rights activism, Maâti has been a long-time target of uninterrupted defamation campaigns and intimidation, yet he continued to peacefully advocate for justice and freedom of expression in Morocco.

Like so many Moroccan, regional and global organisations who have worked with Maâti Monjib over the years and can attest of his personal and professional ethics and integrity, IMS is relieved that Maâti Monjib was released from prison.  

Read more here:

Liberté pour MAATI MONJIB – FREE MAATI MONJIB and all political detainees in Morocco

RSF: Moroccan journalist freed after 20 days on hunger strike