Moroccan Arrested for Facebook Page
By Curt on Feb 18, 2008 in Morocco, Fouad Mourtada, Facebook
Update: RSF reports that Fouad has already been sentenced to three years in prison for his satirical Facebook page!
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I’m overwrought today, but I need to make time for this. So, with apologies, I’m just going to rip off Carolyn O’Hara’s post from Passport.
Because you are liable to be arrested, blindfolded, harshly interrogated, spat upon, and beaten into unconsciousness, only to wake up and face 5 years in jail. That’s the fate of 26-year-old Moroccan computer engineer Fouad Mourtada, who in a statement said:
I actually created this account on January 15, 2008. It remained on line a few days before somebody closed it. There are so many profiles of celebrities on Facebook. I never thought that by creating a profile of his highness prince Moulay Rachid I am harming him in any way. I, as a matter of fact, did not send any message from that account to anyone. It was just a joke, a gag.
His trial starts next week.
It hardly pays to be named Fouad these days.
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