Victims of a Ministry Decision

By Jamal Elabiad

When I was a university student, my belief was that employments in Morocco are reserved only for the brightest students. And this is why I did my best to excel at my university studies so as to get employed soon after I got my first cycle certificate (or DEUG).

After working six years as middle school teacher of English, I discovered, like many others, I was naïve to believe that jobs in Morocco are given only to those who proved themselves excellent.

Among the measures the Moroccan ministry of education has taken so far to reduce unemployment of graduates was employing a myriad of Master’s-holders as teachers, a large number of whom were my university friends.

The majority of my university friends had no other choice, but to resume their university education simply because the low marks they obtained did not allow them to be selected for a teacher-training center exam, such as ENS or CPR. In other words, they weren’t hard-working students while at the university, and that’s why their ENS or CPR’s applications were rejected. But as soon as they got their Master’s, they were employed as middle or high school English teachers without getting any training.

The problem does not lie in their employment. It lies in the salary scale they were given. Teachers, like me, who were brilliant university students and who spent almost a year at the CPR or ENS were given scale 9 or 10, but those who became teachers without getting any training were given scale 11. My point is that the latter are well-paid than the CPR or ENS graduates.

It’s beyond doubt that the decision of the education ministry to employ Master’s-holders with scale 11 was disappointing for teachers whose belief was employments in Morocco are reserved only for the best students!

Personally speaking, I would not have applied for a career of teaching at middle school had I known that high salaries in Morocco are given only to poor university students. And I am quite sure that many other victims of the ministry decision do add their voice to mine.

The Real Reasons Behind the Arrest of a Newspaper Director

By Jamal Elabiad

The articles Rachid Nini every day publishes in Al Massae pose a major threat to national security. This was among the charges the Moroccan judiciary directed against Rachid Nini, the director of the Moroccan daily and independent newspaper Al Massae.

I do add my voice to a Moroccan lawyer and human rights activist who said that Rachid Nini’s arrest was a political decision. In other words, he was arrested simply because his newspaper has become a serious threat to the interests of all lobbies of corruption in Morocco, and it’s the latter that invariably use the judiciary to silence independent journalists, including Rachid Nini. I can say with confidence that it’s the lobbies of corruption, not the judiciary, that lie behind the arrest of Rachid Nini.

Furthermore, journalist Ahmd Mansour once invited Rachid Nini to one of his programs on Al Jazeera. Among the questions he asked Rachid Nini was “who provided you with the secret news you write about in your daily column?” Rachid Nini’s reply was that he, like all journalists, obtained news from the Internet and newspapers as well as his own reliable sources. He also added that he couldn’t give his sources’ names in order not to cause them any problems.

It’s beyond doubt that Rachid Nini was arrested due to the fact that he refused to name the people who every day provide him with confidential pieces of news on different Moroccan administrations and institutions. Add to this that that the Moroccan authority forces would not have arrested him had it managed to find out who his trusted sources are.

Another reason why Rachid Nini was brought to court is that fact that he is the only Moroccan journalist who has the guts to shed light on the kinds of corruption other independent journalists avoid even hinting at for fear of being arrested, including corruption in the Moroccan military and intelligence forces, and that of the king’s friends. Fouad Ali Al Hima and Mohmed Mounir El majidi are two examples in point.

“Prison, for me, is better than accepting your offers.” Rachid Nini once wrote. That simply means that his arrest not only shows that he, unlike many journalists, preferred to be arrested than to accept the bribes the lobbies of corruption in Morocco promised to give him if he gave up playing the role of a whistleblower, but it also put the lie to all the accusations that were leveled against him, one of which is cooperation with the Moroccan intelligence (or DST).

Pardoning Political Prisoners is Insufficient

By Jamal Elabiad

The fruits Moroccans have reaped from the February 20 movement are countless. An example in point was the royal pardon for scores of political prisoners, including Mustapha Mouatassim, Mohammed Marouani, Mohammed Amine Regala, Alaa Badella Maa-El Ainin and Abdelhafid Sriti. Needless to say, many other political prisoners are still in jail, and nobody knows why they were excluded from the royal pardon.

Most Moroccans do not know the real reasons behind the release of more than ninety political prisoners. That’s because the Moroccan government did not give any reasons why King Mohamed VI decided to pardon those political prisoners.

For some political analysts, it’s the Fed. 20 youths that forced the North African monarchy to release those political prisoners, while for others, their release was among the promises king Mohamed VI gave to the Moroccan youths who took to the streets on Feb. 20 to call for deep political reforms, including a king who reigns, but does not rule.

Furthermore, the absence of the real whys and wherefores has led many Moroccan columnists and human rights activists to give different reasons why those detainees were released. What those reasons had in common was the fact that their arrest and imprisonment was a big mistake. And that’s why they harshly criticized the government for not apologizing to those political prisoners and bringing to trial all those who decided to send them to prison ever though there was no solid evidence supporting the charges that were directed against them.

I do add my voice to theirs. King Mohamed VI did only half of the job when he decided to pardon those detainees. The other half he should have done was to order the government to write a letter of apology to those political prisoners and to bring to justice all those who lie behind the unfair trial they received. Why should king Mohamed VI have done this? One reason is that he pledged in his speech delivered on March 9th that he would bring about most of the reforms the Feb. 20 youths are calling for, including an independent judiciary.

For me, as for others, pardoning political prisoners without punishing all those who use the judiciary to settle an account with their enemies or to serve their own interests means that an independent judiciary in Morocco is still a pie in the sky.

This article first appeared on Al Jazeera Talk English.