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Rabat – Casablanca’s Court of Appeal after midnight on Thursday decided to uphold the six-year prison sentence for Moroccan journalist Omar Radi.
Radi will also have to pay a fine of MAD 200,000 ($20,690).
The court ruled that Radi was guilty for his invovlement in different charges, including “rape,” “indecent assault,” “receiving fund from foreign agents,” and for “undermining state security.”
The court sentenced Radi to six years in prison in July 2021. Police arrested Radi in July 2020 after his colleague Hafsa Boutahar accused him of rape.
Boutahar was working with Radi at Le Desk, a Moroccan news outlet.
Boutahar said that Radi raped her on July 12, 2020 at the house of her bosses, where she temporarly resided for over a month.
The news outlet’s managers had put in place an office for Hafsa and other Le Desk journalists during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Read more: Moroccan Court Sentences Journalist Omar Radi to 6 Years in Prison
Boutahar accused Radi of raping her under the watch of Imad Stitou, another journalist at Le Desk.
On Thursday, the court of appeal additionally decided to uphold Imad Stitou’s sentence of one year in prison.
The court found Stitou guilty for his participation in the acts of rape and indecceent assault.
The court ruled that Stitou failed to help a “person in danger.”
Both Stitou and Radi have continued to deny the accusations against them throughout the trial.
