Chekib El-Khiari, a human rights defender and journalist, is serving a three-year prison sentence in Morocco after he denounced corruption of some Moroccan officials.

Amnesty International believes that Chekib El-Khiari’s conviction is politically motivated and that he is being punished for daring to mention the involvement of high-ranking officials in a drug-trafficking ring. Amnesty International considers Chekib El-Khiari to be a prisoner of conscience, solely detained for his anti-corruption statements and his human rights activities.

Chekib El-Khiari, who is from Rif, a coastal region in northern Morocco, founded the Association of Human Rights in the Rif (Association du Rif des droits de l’homme, ARDH) in 2005. The organization campaigns on a number of issues, such as the treatment of migrants from sub-Saharan Africa in Morocco, violence against women and the drug trade in Morocco’s northern coastal region. Chekib El-Khiari is also an outspoken advocate of the rights of the Amazigh (Berber) community in the region.

On 17 February 2009, Chekib El-Khiari was summoned to report to the police in Casablanca. The following day he was escorted home by police officers, who searched his home and confiscated a number of items, including documents and his computer. They then took him away.

According to the state-run news agency Maghreb Arab Press, the General Crown Prosecutor at the Court of Appeals in Casablanca had ordered the summons because of public statements Chekib El-Khiari had made, including on national television, alleging that high-ranking state officials in Rif were involved in drug trafficking and corruption.

On 24 June 2009, the Casablanca Tribunal of First Instance convicted him of undermining or insulting a public institution, and for opening a bank account and transferring money without proper authorisation. The latter charges relate to an incident in 2006, where Chekib El-Khiari opened a bank account in Spain in order to cash a cheque for around 250 euros from the Spanish newspaper El Pais, for which he had written an article. He was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment and a heavy fine. The sentence was upheld upon appeal on 24 November 2009. 

Amine El-Khiari, Chekib’s brother, told Amnesty International: “This is the second year of his imprisonment, his second birthday and the second Eid el-Fitr that he spends behind the prison bars far away from his parents, who are very old. Our parents are distraught that their son is in prison, but they believe in their son’s just cause and are waiting for the day when they will see him.”

Eid el-Fitr marks the end of Ramadan and is the occasion for family reunion.