Blogger and journalist, Hassan Barhoun has had his six months sentence extended to ten months on appeal.  Barhoun had been arrested for ’spreading false news’ by publishing a petition signed by 60 people that accused the public prosecutor of collusion in a corruption case, he had been sentenced to six months but on appeal his sentence had four months added on to it.

Morocco’s online freedoms record is appaling to say the least and this only makes it worse.  It is noteworthy that instead of Barhoun being questioned over his article, the authority’s response was to thrown in jail and preffer trumped up charges on him.

Another thing is that during his court case defence lawyers were not even allowed to submit any pleadings, a fact that clearly shows that the court case was just a rubber stamp in this injustice.

CPB would like to ask the Moroccan authority to respect the freedom of speech as enshrined in the UN Declaration on Human Rights and release Barhoun and the other bloggers in custody immediately.