Facebook Poser Gets Three Year Sentence

On February 7 we reported that a Moroccan man named Fouad Mourtada had been arrested for pretending to be the Moroccan king’s younger brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, on Facebook. The specific charge was “Villainous practices.”

Well, justice is swift in Morocco. Mourtada was convicted, and sentenced to three years in prison and a $1,000 fine. Moroccan bloggers expressed outrage to no effect. A good roundup of opinions is here.

I’m scratching Morocco off of my holiday list until they get their basic human rights situation in order.

You can sign a petition here to help free Mourtada. My guess is that it ain’t gonna help.