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Rabat – Morocco is moving to penalize defamation in news reporting and on social media, with the country’s Court of Cassation ruling earlier this week for social media posts to be tackled under the Penal Code.
The move means Morocco will soon tackle social networks posts including defamation and fake news under the penal code and not the press and publishing code.
Minister of Justice Abdellatif Ouahbi announced the news on Monday during a parliamentary session, stressing that a draft law to that regard will soon be submitted to the government.
The new legislation would contain measures that strengthen legal actions against anything that undermines people’s privacy and freedom, the minister argued.
In his comments at the parliament, Ouahbi emphasized that the issue of internet defamation will be dealt with “strictly,” adding that “the dignity and the private life of persons are precious and untouchable.”
Ouahbi described the ruling as an important step forward, emphasizing that the forthcoming draft law “will force the Public Prosecutor’s Office to implement criminal law on social networks.”
The announcement comes on the heels of a smear report by local news outlet Achkayen targeting Moroccan football player Zakaria Aboukhlal.
With Achkayen’s report having turned out to be false, Morocco’s National Press Council issued a press release condemning the news outlet’s “unacceptable” accusations against the Atlas Lions player.
As he justified before the parliament the decision to severely punish libel and related violations of individuals’ privacy, Minister Ouahbi recalled that Morocco was last year one of the signatories of the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime.
Officially signed in November of last year after nearly four years of talks, the Budapest Convention is a legally binding agreement.
On May 13 of this year, signatories of the document ratified the Second Additional Protocol to the Budapest Convention on Combating Cybercrime, which aims to to improve cyber security for all the state parties.
Read also: The Evolution of Cyber Crime in Morocco
