Sentence scrapped against blogger critical of Moroccan monarch
RABAT (AFP) - An appeals court in southern Morocco annulled Thursday a two-year jail sentence against blogger Mohamed Erraji, accused of lacking respect for King Mohammed VI in his Internet writings.
The appeals ruling in Agadir overturned the sentence by a lower court, finding that certain procedural measures in the country's press code had not been respected.
"I am very satisfied by the Agadir appeal court's decision which was fair," Erraji told AFP.
"In all my writings I never sought to attack the king," he added.
Earlier this month a lower court in Agadir found Erraji guilty of criticising the Moroccan monarch on his blog, www.hespress.com, ordered him jailed for two years and fined him 5,000 dirhams (440 euros, 630 dollars).
In the article, Erraji wrote that "the king encourages his people to 'al-Ittikal'," an Arabic word that means to rely on handouts.