Moroccan Press Union gives lesson to biased rights NGOs

The Union of the Moroccan press, an independent body grouping Moroccan journalists, released a statement in which it called for a fair trial for Omar Radi and Hafsa Boutahar who accused him of rape.

Unlike biased Rights NGOs like Morocco’s AMDH, RSF, Amnesty, and HRW, the National Union of the Moroccan press listened to both Omar Radi and Hafsa Boutahar.

It condemned in strongest terms the attempts by foreign international NGOs to depict her as participating in a conspiracy against Radi. Such claims infringe her right to seek justice to defend her rights.

 

Without any proof, many foreign media outlets and NGOs condemned Boutahar, a woman who complained of being raped, in a way that puts these bodies outside the universal human rights framework.

These international bodies that deny Hafsa Boutahar her right to seek justice are in fact prejudging the outcome of the trial and flouting her right to defend herself as a woman.

The Union denounced such a “double standard” recalling that in the west, rape and sexual assault accusations are taken very seriously but when a Moroccan women brings a rape case she is discarded because the accused is a “political and rights activist.”

The Union, on the other hand, stressed on the need to uphold the presumption of innocence concerning the charges of undermining national security as Radi is also accused of receiving funds from foreign intelligence officials.