DAS CARPENTER DISCUSSES FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RABAT 000996 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/MAG E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/30/2010 TAGS: PHUM KDEM PGOV PREL MO SUBJECT: DAS CARPENTER DISCUSSES FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION WITH GOM, PROMINENT MEDIA FIGURES Classified By: Classified by DCM Wayne Bush for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) . ¶1. (C) Summary: Moroccan Minister of Communications Benabdellah told visiting DAS Carpenter during a June 6 meeting that the latest and presumably final draft of the revised press code reduced from 24 to four the number of categories of offenses that could land journalists in jail. He emphasized that Morocco had sent no journalists to jail recently. He also noted that the new law provided for an arbitration council intended to minimize the number of defamation cases referred to civil courts. Separately, two of Morocco's most prominent journalists expressed wariness of the government's intentions while recognizing that the Moroccan press is probably the freest in the Arab World. The publisher of Morocco's leading weekly newsmagazine assessed that the problem was neither the legal framework (which was regularly circumvented in practice),nor freedom of expression, but the inability of the Moroccan press to create pressure for action by Morocco,s governmental institutions. End Summary. -------------- -------------- Minister Says Draft Press Law Progressive - Tones Down Penalties -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) Press freedom and elections (septel) were the twin focal points of DAS Carpenter's June 4-6 visit to Morocco. During his call on Minister of Communications Nabil Benabdellah on the evening of June 6, DAS Carpenter expressed concern over reports that the bill revising Morocco's press code might represent a step backward for the country by imposing new restrictions and jailable offenses on journalists. Benabdellah responded that he had just completed work on the latest and "final" version of the bill in the past few days. The Minister noted that the bill contains a number of provisions intended to help the press sector shore up its shaky financial position and adapt to changing market models. (Note: press reports indicate that the latest draft has been provided to the Moroccan Federation of Publishers -- FMEJ -- and the Moroccan Press Union, for review. End note.) ¶3. (C) While the bill has gone through many versions in recent months, the final draft, according to Benabdellah, actually reduced from 24 to four the number of categories of �0A;offenses that could send Moroccan journalists to jail. The four categories were (1) publication of pedophilic material; (2) incitement of the military to mutiny; (3) racial or religious incitement; and (4) undermining the country's territorial integrity (read promoting separatist claims on Western Sahara). These areas were considered core national security issues, the Minister emphasized. Benabdellah added that no journalists have been jailed recently, asserting that the Government had bent over backwards to avoid jailing two journalists recently fined for writing an article deemed offensive to Islam. ¶4. (C) DAS Carpenter welcomed news of the narrower scope of jailable offenses but noted the number of prominent cases in which huge civil penalties were imposed on journalists, raising concerns that such cases were having the effect of silencing journalists who push the envelope with controversial reporting. Benabdellah said that the new bill text imposed reasonable parameters for fines and civil penalties (but it was not clear that they would be applicable to all cases). Benabdellah further noted that the draft provided for the establishment of a council that could arbitrate cases of defamation (which he stressed is not criminalized in Morocco),hopefully reducing the number of civil cases that actually go to court. -------------- Leading Journalists Skeptical, Philosophical -------------- ¶5. (C) DAS Carpenter also met during his visit with two of the leading personalities in Moroccan journalism - Abdelmouneim Dilami, director of Eco Medias Group, the largest independent media conglomerate in Morocco; and Ahmed Benchamsi, Director of Telquel, Morocco's leading weekly newsmagazine, and Nichane, its Arabic-language sister publication. Each expressed wariness of the government's motives. Dilami, who represented Moroccan Publishers in consultations with the GOM as the bill was being prepared, complained that the GOM had broken faith with the Moroccan media by producing a draft that was far more restrictive than the principles previously agreed. (Comment: Dilami's views RABAT 00000996 002 OF 002 were most likely based on the draft press code circulated in March. End comment.) ¶6. (C) Benchamsi, whose weekly newsmagazine Telquel has a well-earned reputation for pushing the envelope with its coverage of controversial topics, said he was less concerned about the press law. "We have always broken the law and we always will break the law, it doesn't matter," he stated. As an example he noted that the press code forbids foreign ownership of Moroccan media, while French investors own a majority stake in Telquel, and Saudi investors own a majority in Le Matin, the daily generally seen as a mouthpiece for the Palace. ¶7. (C) "The problem in Morocco is not the lack of freedom of expression, we have the freedom," Benchamsi stressed, pointing to Telquel's cover story this week alleging a corrupt real estate deal conducted between the King's private secretary and the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The problem SIPDIS in Morocco is that freedom of the press doesn't matter: The press, through its stories, is not able to advance the reform agenda, he maintained. This is due to an unsophisticated public and an underdeveloped political culture. "When we published the story about Majidi (the King's secretary)" his question was 'why are you conspiring against me?' rather than asking 'have I done something wrong?'" ****************************************** Visit Embassy Rabat's Classified Website; http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/rabat ****************************************** RILEY