Moroccan pro-Palestine activists denounce increased state repression

Mustapha Dakar, Mohamed Boustati, Ismail Lghazaoui, Abderrahmane Azenkad and Said Boukioud are among a growing list of Moroccan activists recently sentenced to prison by local courts for criticising their country’s normalisation of relations with Israel.

According to a tally compiled by the Moroccan Front for the Support of Palestine and Against Normalisation - a coalition that brings together some 20 associations, unions and political parties - 20 people have been arrested and sentenced to jail terms for this reason since 2021, and the number has been accelerating since October 2023.

Boustati is one of the latest to be sentenced. He received a one-year prison term at the end of March for defamation over Facebook posts about Israel’s war on Gaza that were deemed offensive to the Saudi state.

The posts contained general political criticism of Arab states' positions on the war and normalisation deals with Israel, according to the statements of his lawyer to AFP.

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