A court of first instance in Casablanca sentenced Moroccan cartoonist and graffiti artist Yasser Mounbir to four years in prison and a fine of 40,000 dirhams (€3,633) on Friday, October 30. The 22-year-old was convicted of “offending the person of the king” and “insulting public officials.”
The Moroccan Association for Human Rights described the sentence as disproportionate. Mounbir’s lawyer, Farouk Mehdaoui, told Le Monde that he intends to appeal the ruling.
The case concerns caricatures of King Mohammed VI that Mounbir posted on his Instagram account. In the drawings, the monarch was depicted in disguise, in women’s clothing or as an animal. Prosecutors based the charges on Article 179 of Morocco’s Penal Code, which establishes penalties for defamation, insult or offense against the king.
Police summoned Mounbir on June 15, the same day he was imprisoned. He has spent 140 days in pretrial detention at Casablanca’s Oukacha prison, where visits are limited to his family and legal counsel. According to his lawyer, the artist is in a worrying psychological condition.
Sources: Le Monde International.