Prime Minister Driss Jettou
c/o H.E. Ambassador of His Majesty the King to France
Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco
5, rue Le Tasse
75116 Paris
France

4 January 2007

Dear Prime Minister,

We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 102 countries, to strongly condemn the ban imposed on the weekly newspaper Nichane and the legal proceedings against its publisher, Driss Ksikes, and journalist Sanaa Elaji.

We believe that your 20 December 2006 decision to ban the publication of Nichane for ‘denigrating Islam’ represents a grave violation of the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The decision, which follows the publication of a feature dedicated to domestic jokes about religion, sex, and politics, constitutes a breach of the international commitments made by Morocco to guarantee and respect fundamental freedoms.

We respectfully ask that the Moroccan authorities reconsider certain articles of the 2002 press code that infringe international standards of freedom of expression.

We also believe that legal proceedings against Driss Ksikes and Sanaa Elaji by the Casablanca Court for “denigrating the Islamic religion” and “publishing and distributing writings contrary to morality and traditional values” are unacceptable. We respectfully call on the Court to withdraw the charges.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely,

Gavin O’Reilly
President
World Association of Newspapers

George Brock
President
World Editors Forum

The Paris-based WAN, the global organisation for the newspaper industry, represents 18,000 newspapers; its membership includes 76 national newspaper associations, newspaper companies and individual newspaper executives in 102 countries, 12 news agencies and 10 regional and world-wide press groups.