February 4th, 2010 by Josh

In a fascinating piece at the Huffington Post, Aida Alami — a Moroccan journalist previously affiliated with Le Journal Hebdomadaire — details the circumstances surrounding the publication’s recent closure at the hands of Moroccan authorities. Corroborating Issandr El Amrani’s account at The Guardian, Alami describes a scene of Moroccan security agents taking control of Le Journal’s newsroom, sealing it off, and changing the locks. Although officials attribute the shut-down to Le Journal’s own financial failings, Alami, like others, views the action as an overt political decision to silence an “icon of the free press.”

She continued her commentary in an interview with the Herald de Paris, revealing that despite Le Journal’s courageous work, “the [Moroccan] public doesn’t want to hear the truth about issues.” Not only did the magazine have few friends, she said, but many Moroccans, even those within higher income brackets, saw it as anti-patriotic and overly critical. Regardless, she maintains that this does not detract from its invaluable service to Moroccan society.

Le Journal’s editor, Abou Bakr Jamai, continued to speak out against the government’s draconian behavior as well. Reuters quotes him as saying, “This is a clear case of financial asphyxiation.” The non-profit Reporters Without Borders added that “this judicial liquidation heralds the end of the first independent title in Morocco.”

Over at Morocco Board News Service, Hassan Masiky, former consultant for USAID and Amnesty International USA, writes that “the ramification of the closure of Le Journal Hebdomadaire will, without a doubt, have a lasting negative impact on the image of Morocco as a modern democracy.” In a diplomatic context, Masiky is convinced that these latest actions will make it difficult for the government “to push for its Advanced Status with the European Union or to convince the United Nation of its ability to establish a true regionalism system for the Western Sahara.”

Posted in Human Rights, Journalism, Morocco |