Latest news with #AitMehdi
Yahoo
04-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Moroccan activist defending quake victims gets jail sentence
By Ahmed Eljechtimi RABAT (Reuters) - A Moroccan appeals court on Tuesday increased a jail sentence to one year against Moroccan activist Said Ait Mehdi, who led protests criticizing the government response to a devastating earthquake in September 2023, his lawyer said. Ait Mehdi, who had been sentenced to three months in a first instance verdict, stood the trial behind bars on charges including spreading fake news and defamation in a lawsuit filed by local authority officials. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. The 6.8 magnitude earthquake, Morocco's deadliest since 1960, killed more than 2,900 people and damaged vital infrastructure in the Atlas Mountains. It destroyed many hamlets with traditional mud brick, stone and wood houses, specific to the Amazigh-speaking Atlas Mountains. Ait Mehdi is the leader of a group of quake victims which denounced dysfunction in aid distribution. The verdict "will deepen the wounds and the suffering of the victims who undergo severe climate conditions of snowfall, rain, and cold, following the September 8 earthquake of 2023 and who are still sleeping in plastic tents," Ait Mehdi's lawyer Mohamed El Ghalloussi told Reuters. Earthquake victims have been receiving 2,500 dirhams ($250) per household, and 35,214 homes are being made ready, according to a prime minister's statement in December. On the first anniversary of the earthquake, the government said only 1,000 homes were rebuilt out of 57,000 destroyed in the quake. Overall, Morocco plans to spend 120 billion dirhams on a post-earthquake reconstruction plan that includes the upgrade of infrastructure over the next five years. Economic losses from the quake accounted for 0.24% of Morocco's GDP in 2023, or 3 billion dirhams, according to a study by the Policy Center for the New South.
Ya Biladi
04-03-2025
- Ya Biladi
Marrakech court increases sentence for head of Al Haouz earthquake victims' group
The Court of Appeal in Marrakech ruled, Tuesday, to increase the sentence of Said Ait Mehdi, head of the Coordination of Victims of the Al Haouz Earthquake, to one year in prison. The court also convicted three other defendants, who had been acquitted by the Court of First Instance, sentencing them to four months in prison each. One month ago, the Marrakech Court of First Instance had sentenced Said Ait Mehdi to three months in prison, a fine of 500 dirhams, and 10,000 dirhams in compensation to the civil party. In December, the prosecutor at the Marrakech Court of First Instance decided to prosecute Said Ait Mehdi while in detention, and he was subsequently imprisoned. Ait Mehdi was charged with spreading false information to harm people's private lives, defaming them, insulting an organization, insulting public officials while they were doing their jobs or because of their jobs, assaulting a public official while they were on duty, and encouraging the commission of a crime or misdemeanor through electronic means that could be publicly seen. The other defendants were charged with insulting a public official. The arrest of the four suspects followed a complaint filed by an authority officer.
