Human rights activists criticize sentences against Moroccan rappers

The Misdemeanor Chamber of the Fes Court of First Instance issued a verdict a few days ago against a rapper known as Zoma Max for his song “Amo Rak Wldti Zin,” sentencing him to two years in prison and a fine of MAD 10,000.

This follows the court’s earlier rulings that handed down the same sentence to the creators of the songs “Charr Kebi Atay” and “Charr Kebi Hawai.”  

This verdict sparked a lot of controversy and debate within the public sphere, especially regarding the fact that this is a matter of deprivation of liberty against young individuals concerning songs that are classified within an art form that has its followers.

Human rights advocates assert that these sentences are “excessive and cannot fulfill their intended purpose.”

Adil Tchikitou, president of the Moroccan League for the Defense of Human Rights said, “The singer must ensure that their creative material respects the particularities of society, and does not contain obscene content, especially since the artistic material they produce may be accessible to children and minors.”

He further commented that on the other hand, the Moroccan constitution guarantees their right to creativity.

Tchikitou indicated that “these judgments include personal assessments by the judges, but the request is that punitive judgments be issued in the form of fines or reprimands rather than dealing with these individuals through a security and judicial approach, but rather an educational one.”

The rights advocate considered that “the intervention of the artists’ union, the Ministry of Culture, political parties, and other institutions responsible for guiding these youths was necessary,” and added, “The question that embarrasses us all is why have we reached this point?”

The speaker also considered that “the artistic field is open without controls and guidance, which has led us to produce art that contains obscene words,” speaking of what he called a “collective resignation, whether of the judiciary, the educational institution, political parties, and various institutions, from performing their roles, especially in guiding and elevating the artistic development of the youth, which today leaves us facing artistic content containing vulgar language.”

For his part, Driss Sedraoui the president of the Moroccan Association for Citizenship and Human Rights said: “We have followed the trial of a group of rap artists, and we note that the judgments issued against them were characterized by inequality before the law.”

Sedraoui added in a statement to Hespress: “Many rap artists have the same content, yet no such judgments have been issued against them,” citing an example of sentences issued against singers in Italy, “but these were merely penalties for the rappers, and did not lead to imprisonment.”

The human rights activist criticized “the absence of legislative texts for several practices that we see today on social media, which do not respect the values of society, women, and children and contain content of insults and defamation and others.”

He also spoke of “deficiencies in legislative texts,” not to mention what he called “the absence of plans and strategies from the government for this type of art that attracts a number of young people, which should be cared for and embrace singers with good content.”