The Communication Department of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports issued on Wednesday a statement on the «unjustified attacks» and «slanderous assertions» of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), which has just released a video containing serious untruths about the state of freedom of expression in Morocco. Reacting to RSF's allegations, the Communication Department noted that Reporters without Borders «endeavors to undermine national institutions through false and slanderous assertions». RSF erroneously refers to the case of journalists on which the Moroccan judiciary has given a final ruling part of fair trials that led either to their conviction or to their release after having benefited from a Royal Pardon, according to the same source. This organization «pretends to ignore that the status of journalist does not confer any judicial immunity that would allow journalists to enjoy a special status which places them above the law. It is up to justice only to decide independently on the grievances they are subject to», the statement said. RSF showed through this video «an inexcusable ignorance of the Moroccan institutional system» by referring «unduly to the Moroccan secret services» as being at the origin of legal proceedings against journalists, it added. The organization also overshadowed «the fact that Morocco has adopted in 2011 a constitutional tool that reinforces the independence of the judiciary, embodied in the organic laws relating to the Supreme Council of the Judiciary and the status of the judiciary adopted in 2016 by the Parliament following a participatory approach welcomed by the Venice Commission». The video released by RSF goes to the point of denying alleged victims of sexual abuse their fundamental right to take legal action against their alleged aggressors, and of discrediting their complaints in violation of the universal principles and norms established in this area, the statement concluded.
