Jamai Aboubakr
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Aboubakr Jamai is a Moroccan newspaper publisher.
Aboubakr Jamai is the publisher of Morocco's weekly newspaper Le Journal Hebdomadaire and its sister publication, Assahifa al-Ousbouiya. Since they were founded in the late 1990s under the names Le Journal and Assahifa, the papers have staked out new terrain in Moroccan journalism through investigative reporting on government corruption, corporate impropriety, and taboo political topics. Some journalists consider the publications the first truly independent newspapers in the country.
In 2000, Moroccan authorities banned editions of Le Journal and Assahifa when Le Journal crossed a political redline by publishing an interview with Muhammad Abdelaziz, leader of the Polisario Front rebel movement, which has been fighting Morocco for independence of the Western Sahara since the 1970s. Later that year, Le Journal reprinted an explosive letter alleging that former Prime Minister Abderrahamane Youssefi, a former left-wing activist, had been involved in a 1972 plot to assassinate King Hassan II. The government responded by permanently banning both papers. The papers eventually reopened under the similar sounding names Le Journal Hebdomadaire and Assahifa al-Ousbouiya.
In 2001, Jamai and Assahifa al-Ousbouiya general manager Ali Ammar were convicted of defaming Foreign Minister Muhammad Ben Aissa after an article in Le Journal Hebdomadaire alleged that Ben Aissa had profited from the purchase of an official residence in Washington, D.C., during his tenure as Morocco's ambassador to the United States. Jamai and Ammar were sentenced to three and two months in prison, respectively, and were ordered to pay fines and damages totaling 2 million dirhams (US$200,000). The sentences were eventually suspended, and an appeal is still pending.
In recent years, the government has adopted a new tactic to harass the papers by pressuring advertisers to refrain from buying ads in order to hurt the papers' bottom line. But despite years of government harassment, Jamai's newspapers have demonstrated a dogged determination to cover the news both professionally and independently while embracing the fundamental philosophy that those in positions of power should be held accountable for their actions.
In 2003, Jamai Aboubakr received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists.
In April of 2006, a libel suit was brought against Jamai for nearly $350,000. Although several wealthy civilians offered to help Jamai pay the fine, he resigned from Le Journal in January of 2007, and rumor has it that he will self-exile from Morocco.
His commentary appears in the Washington Post's PostGlobal segment.
[edit] External links
- The Washington Post, PostGlobal Panelist
- International Press Freedom Awards 2003, Committee to Protect Journalists
- "Aboubakr Jamai on Fighting Moroccan Government Censorship and How Al Jazeera Fosters a Culture of Debate," Columbia Journalism Review Daily
- "Aboubakr Jamai: Journalist," Time Magazine, Europe Edition
- "Managing editor resigns to spare his newspaper impossible damages payment," IFEX - International Freedom of Expression eXchange
