Morocco: Saida EL Alami on hunger strike over her arrest for exposing corruption and human rights violations

On 15 July 2025, the Moroccan woman human rights defender and blogger Saida EL Alami appeared before the Casablanca Court of First Instance while on a hunger and water strike. According to her defence team, Saida El Alami’s strike is a protest against her arbitrary arrest and deprivation of legal counsel during her court appearance in early July.

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Saida EL Alami is a woman human rights defender and blogger from Morocco who has been engaging in social media and peaceful protests to denounce the abuse of power, corruption, and the repression of freedom of expression and opinion. Arrested in 2022 and sentenced in two separate cases to a total of three years in prison and a fine, Saida EL Alami was granted a royal pardon and released in July 2024. Despite the imprisonment, her commitment to justice and freedom remained unwavering.

On 1 July 2025, Moroccan security authorities arrested Saida EL Alami without warning or prior notice as she walked down the street. The Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH) reported in their statement that she had not committed a criminal offence, yet was taken into custody and subjected to a preliminary investigation by the National Judicial Police in Casablanca.

On the morning of 3 July, she was brought before the King's Prosecutor at the Ain Sebaa Court of First Instance, where she was detained on charges of “insulting a legally organised body, disseminating false allegations and insulting the judiciary”. Although her trial was initially scheduled to occur immediately, it was postponed to 8 July. According to her defence team, Saida EL Alami refused to attend the hearing on 8 July to protest against her deprivation of the right to a lawyer when she appeared before the King's Prosecutor.

On 15 July, when she appeared in Court, Saida EL Alami announced that she had been on a hunger and water strike since the previous day. Her defence team emphasises that this decision was made to protest the circumstances of her arrest and the subsequent violations of both Moroccan laws and international standards that guarantee freedom of opinion and expression. Reportedly, Saida EL Alami agreed to drink water at the end of the hearing after both the Court and her defence team urged her to end the strike. The Court granted her defence team a postponement to prepare her defence, with the next hearing scheduled for 23 July 2025.

Front Line Defenders condemns the arbitrary arrest, prosecution, and detention of Saida El Alami, believing it to be direct reprisal by the authorities in Morocco for her legitimate and peaceful work as a human rights defender and blogger. The prosecution of Saida El Alami reflects a broader trend of restrictions on the right to freedom of expression and assembly, along with harassment and reprisals against human rights defenders and peaceful activists in Morocco.

Front Line Defenders urges the authorities in Morocco to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally release woman human rights defender and blogger Saida El Alami;
2. Cease the targeting of human rights defenders in Morocco;
3. Ensure that all human rights defenders in Morocco can carry out their human rights activities and exercise their right to freedom of expression without fear of reprisals, in line with Morocco’s international human rights obligations and commitments.