Rabat: A Moroccan man has been sentenced to five years in prison for sharing posts criticizing King Mohammed VI on Facebook for normalizing ties with Israel, AFP reported.
Said Boukioud, 48, was sentenced on Monday, July 31, by the court of first instance in Casablanca and was charged with “undermining the monarchy” for comments he posted on Facebook in December 2020.
At the time, he was living in Qatar. When he learned he was being prosecuted in Morocco, he deleted the posts and closed his account.
However, he was arrested upon his return to Casablanca last week. Boukioud’s lawyer El Hassan Essouni told AFP that the Casablanca court’s verdict “is harsh and incomprehensible”.
He added that although his client had expressed his disavowal of relations with Israel, he had absolutely no intention of offending the King in doing so.
Morocco and Israel normalized relations in December 2020 as part of the US-backed Abraham Accords.
