Journalist Hafsa Boutahar’s defense team has requested the plaintiff be excused from attending sessions, to avoid “serious harm resulting from leaking her statements outside the courtroom.”
Boutahar is legally pursuing fellow journalist and ex-colleague journalist Omar Radi for “sexual assault and rape,” which allegedly occurred back in July 2020.
Omar Radi has been in custody since then, and was sentenced to 6 years in prison, resulting from additional charges of “abiding a foreign institution’s interference in Moroccan state affairs.”
The plaintiff’s defense suggested that if the Court of Appeals requires Boutahar’s presence, “all sessions be now held behind closed doors” to avoid the alleged victim’s discomfort.
Lawyer Maryam Jamal El Idrissi, representing Boutahar, stated that “following the initial trial, the plaintiff saw her personal data and confidential information leaked outside the courtroom,” which allegedly “subjected to a campaign of defamation and bullying.”
On Monday, July 19, 2021, the First Instance Chamber of the Court of Appeal in Casablanca had sentenced Omar Radi to six years in prison, and a fine of MAD 200,000.
Meanwhile, fellow journalist Imad Stitou was sentenced to one year in prison, including six valid months, and a fine of MAD 20,000.
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