Rabat - Morocco’s recent ranking in the Reporters Without Borders (RWB) 2015 World Press Freedom Index does not reflect the reality of press freedom in our country, Communication Minister and Government Spokesperson Mustapha El Khalfi said on Thursday in Rabat.
Rabat – Morocco’s recent ranking in the Reporters Without Borders (RWB) 2015 World Press Freedom Index does not reflect the reality of press freedom in our country, Communication Minister and Government Spokesperson Mustapha El Khalfi said on Thursday in Rabat.
The Kingdom rose six positions in the RWB 2015 World Press Freedom Index from 136th last year to 130th this year out of 180 countries.
The non-profit organizations hailed the Moroccan government’s attempts to overhaul media legislation. However, Mustapha El Khalfi, who was speaking to the Press following the weekly cabinet meeting, said that the reality of press freedom in Morocco remains “significantly ahead of the ranking provided by these reports.”
El Khalfi told the press that the RWB ranking reflects little bit of fairness, mainly because no journalist was sentenced to prison in 2014. He added that half the press-related cases last year were found not guilty while the other half was ruled to pay very moderate fines.
The Communication Minister also said that Morocco has adopted “effective policies” to guarantee strict legal safeguards to protect journalists from attacks. In addition, the kingdom has adopted judicial protection of confidentiality of sources and the removal of prison sentences for journalists and replacing them with moderate fines.
RWB said in its annual report that although the kingdom rose slightly in the 2015 Index, “the freedom of information in Morocco is still constrained both in current practice and in the proposed legislation by the red lines forbidding coverage of the monarchy, Islam and territorial issues, and by the criminalization of blasphemy.”
