The Moroccan cartoonist Yasser Mounbir was sentenced at first instance by a court in Casablanca to four years’ imprisonment for cartoons of King Mohammed VI published on Instagram, according to his lawyer, Farouk Mehdaoui, on Sunday 1 November.
He was found guilty of “insulting the king” and “insulting public officials”. According to his lawyer, the young man will also have to pay a fine of 40,000 dirhams (around 3,600 euros). The defence has already announced that it will appeal the verdict.
Yasser Mounbir, aged 22, was arrested in June after posting the cartoons on his Instagram account; he has been in pre-trial detention ever since and is currently being held at Ain Sebaâ prison, better known as ‘Oukacha’, in Casablanca. The Moroccan Association for Human Rights has called for his release.
Article 179 of the Moroccan Penal Code punishes “defamation, insult or invasion of the King’s privacy” with prison sentences ranging from six months to two years, which may be doubled if the material is disseminated electronically. Human rights campaigners are calling for the repeal of laws they consider to be restrictive of freedom of expression, as well as a pardon for those convicted of online publications.
I find it strange that there are so many articles on the subject yet none of the cartoons for which he was arrested and tried appear; I gather that someone has done a very good job of removing them. Nor have I been able to find the artist’s Instagram account, and some of the accounts linked to in various media reports covering the case do not appear to belong to the same person.
Humour in Trouble: A Collection of Cases
Cases of cartoonists who have faced significant problems as a result of their satirical cartoons or illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, whilst not cartoonists themselves, have run into trouble for sharing them.
