IMS calls for the release of Maâti Monjib

On 4 March 2021, Moroccan journalist, historian and human rights defender Maâti Monjib started a hunger strike in protest of the one-year prison sentence he received on 27 January.

Maati 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. With a heart condition and diabetes, there is little doubt that his life is endangered.

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 calls for his immediate release.