In our world, bloggers still get jailed for their writings, like Erraji
Written on September 10, 2008 – 9:52 am
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief
Just a reminder on the Wednesday morning that what we, millions of bloggers, do, isn’t that normal in the rest of the world. For many people, blogging whatever you want is an illusion. Like Mohamed Erraji, 29, who wrote in online newspaper Hespress that Morocco had been destroyed by a culture of handing out gifts and privileges by the government. According to him, begging has become a rewarding activity in the north African kingdom.
“It has made the Moroccans a people without dignity, who live by donations and gifts,” Erraji wrote.
The government took this as showing disrespect to the king, which is, according to Morocco’s press code, an offense. So Erraji was jailed on Friday and dragged to court on Monday, where he was sentenced to two years in prison and a hefty fine. He had no defense lawyer and the judgment only took ten minutes.
According to Reuters, Reporters Without Borders said the sentence was “worthy of the most totalitarian states” and demanded Erraji’s liberation. The government officials could not be reached for comment.
So while you and I start another day of blogging freely, somebody lives a captured life because of his writings. Just think about that every once in a while and consider to do a write-up on this as well.
I hope you like that post!
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[...] week, we reported that Mohamed Erraji was sentenced to two years in prison and fined, for “showing disrespect [...]