Maati Monjib
Editor’s note: Monjib is the publisher of the Arabic edition of Marxism and Freedom by Raya Dunayevskaya. He also edited it and supervised its translation into Arabic. See “Support Maâti Monjib, who is on hunger strike!” for background. He sent this message widely on Sept. 27, 2021:
Dear friends in the human rights community,
I am getting back in touch with you after health issues that lasted most of the summer. Thank you again for having done everything in your power to get me out of prison six months ago. My next hearing is scheduled for September 30 before the Rabat Court of Appeal. My liberty might again be at risk since I was arbitrarily sentenced in absentia to one year on January 27 while in detention. I was mainly convicted of “undermining national security.”
I would like to ask you to help again by spreading the information and reaching out to international and Moroccan authorities so that the persecution against me and my family, which has been ongoing for six years now, may finally come to an end.
Maâti Monjib, Morocco
+ 212 6 62 61 86 31 (Signal)
The following day, the comité France de soutien à Maâti Monjib released this statement (English translation follows):
Le comité France de soutien à Maâti Monjib exprime sa profonde solidarité à l’historien et professeur Maâti Monjib avant le jugement en appel qui aura lieu le 30 septembre 2021. Il s’agit pour Maâti Monjib de dénoncer les méthodes iniques et la condamnation infligée le 27 janvier 2021. Alors que Maâti Monjib était injustement privé de sa liberté – en détention provisoire depuis un mois – il a été amené dans l’enceinte du tribunal le même jour et à la même heure que la séance judiciaire de sa condamnation . Il était donc physiquement présent dans une salle du tribunal alors que se tenait au même moment le dénouement des poursuites engagées à son encontre depuis 2015, sans que ni lui ni ses avocats aient été informés et convoqués à cette audience. Ce procès pour atteinte à la sûreté de l’Etat (dans les faits, pour avoir organisé des formations de journalisme citoyen) a été reporté plus de vingt fois en cinq ans et Maâti Monjib s’est toujours rendu aux convocations du juge. C’est donc en violation du droit le plus élémentaire de la défense que Maâti Monjib a été injustement condamné, en son absence à un an de prison et à une forte amende.
Le comité France de soutien à Maâti Monjib réaffirme sa réprobation des méthodes d’une justice qui condamne sans convoquer l’accusé, réitère toute sa solidarité à Maâti Monjib, et demande l’abandon de toute poursuite à son encontre.
comité France de soutien à Maâti Monjib
le 28 septembre 2021
le 28 septembre 2021
Rough English translation:
The France support committee for Maâti Monjib expresses its deep solidarity with the historian and professor Maâti Monjib before the appeal court ruling which will take place on Sept. 30, 2021. For Maâti Monjib, it is a question of denouncing the iniquitous methods and the sentence imposed on him on Jan. 27, 2021. While Maâti Monjib was unjustly deprived of his liberty–in pre-trial detention for a month–he was brought into the courtroom on the same day and at the same time as the judicial session for his conviction. He was therefore physically present in a courtroom while the outcome of the proceedings against him since 2015 was taking place, without either he or his lawyers having been informed and summoned to this hearing. This trial for endangering state security (in fact, for having organized training in citizen journalism) has been postponed more than twenty times in five years and Maâti Monjib has always complied with the judge’s summons. It is therefore in violation of the most basic right of defense that Maâti Monjib was unjustly sentenced in his absence to one year in prison and a heavy fine.
The France support committee for Maâti Monjib reaffirms its disapproval of the methods of a justice which condemns without summoning the accused, reiterates its full solidarity with Maâti Monjib, and calls for the abandonment of any prosecution against him.