RABAT: Morocco yesterday arrested a news website’s editor and threatened legal action against Spanish newspaper El Pais for posting an Al Qaeda video it said incites terrorism in the kingdom.
Ali Anouzla, the director of Lakome’s Arabic language version, was arrested at his office in Rabat mid-morning, with police also seizing computer equipment, journalists working at the website said.
His arrest was ordered following the publication by Lakome of “a video attributed to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), containing a clear call and a direct incitement to commit acts of terrorism” in Morocco, the public prosecutor said in a statement.
Later in the day, Morocco’s justice ministry said the government had also decided to take legal action against El Pais for having posted the same video on its website.
By early evening, the Moroccan journalist was being held in police custody in Casablanca, his lawyer said.
He risks prosecution under Morocco’s anti-terrorism laws.
The 41-minute video, posted on the Internet last Thursday by AQIM and entitled “Morocco: the kingdom of corruption and despotism,” calls for jihad in the north African country and lashes out at King Mohamed VI, who is pictured engulfed in flames.
AFP
