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Image via Wikipedia The court of appeals of Agadir on Thursday ordered the provisional release of Moroccan blogger Mohamed Erajji, the official Maghreb Arabe Presse agency (MAP) reports.

Erraji had been sentenced to two years in prison on Monday for "lacking the respect due to the King" and the Royal family. He had been arrested last Friday after posting an article on the popular e-journal Hespress, in which he claimed that the King's charitable habits were "encouraging a culture of dependency" and the Moroccan people to be "lazy."

According to one of Erraji's relatives who was present at the trial in Agadir, Erraji was denied access to a defense lawyer and was convicted after a ten-minute trial.

The court of appeals ruled on Thursday that the lower court had failed to respect certain legal procedures under the Press and Publication Law. The public prosecutor's office did not object to Erajji's release.

Mohamed Erajji was the first blogger in Morocco to be given a prison sentence.


From MENASSAT:

Two years for criticizing the King
Posted on 10/09/2008 - 15:04
Moroccan blogger Mohamed Erraji has been sentenced to two years in prison for posting an article in which he criticized the policies of the King.