“One of Morocco’s most famous journalists is behind bars because of what he wrote about public officials and state institutions,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “That is plain wrong – whatever one may think of his columns.” The Casablanca Court of Appeals on October 24, 2011, upheld the prison term against Nini, whose column in the privately owned newspaper he directs, al-Masa’ (The Evening), is one of the most widely read columns in Morocco. The National Brigade of the Judicial Police (la Brigade nationale de police judiciaire, BNPJ) summoned Nini for questioning on April 26, releasing him later the same day. On April 28, the police summoned him again and obtained an order to detain him for 96 hours. The interrogation focused on the content of his columns in al-Masa’, according to his signed statement and his lawyers. On May 1, the authorities brought Nini before the Casablanca prosecutor, who notified him he faced charges of “gravely offending” public officials (article 263 of the penal code), accusing public officials of violating the law without providing proof (article 264), and insulting the judiciary or discrediting its rulings or attempting to influence the courts (article 266). From the earliest phases of the case, the court rejected numerous motions by Nini’s lawyers to release him provisionally pending a definitive verdict. On June 9, the Casablanca Court of First Instance convicted Nini on all three charges and sentenced him to one year in prison and a fine of 1,000 dirhams (US$120). The verdict and sentence were both upheld on appeal. The written verdict of the first-instance trial (misdemeanor case 11/10/3245, ruling 4675) lists nine columns by Nini, all published in March or April. The verdict says that Nini confirmed that he wrote them. In his defense, Nini told the court that some of the information in the articles came from credible sources whose identity he could not disclose. Other parts of the articles, he said, amounted to his own analysis and opinions regarding daily events. Nini denied in court that his writings showed malice toward anyone or contempt for court rulings or a desire to influence them. The columns by Nini that are mentioned in the verdict include one attacking Abdellatif Hammouchi for allegedly abusing his authority as head of the General Directorate of Territorial Surveillance, a domestic intelligence agency widely known as the DST (the initials of its former name in French, Direction de la surveillance du territoire). The column, a French translation of which is online at http://www.droitetjustice.org/article_show.php?id=1592&ids=12, appeared in al-Masa’ on April 18, eight days before the police first summoned Nini. The court, in its verdict, also cites an article in which it says that Nini, without providing the necessary proof, accused Hassan Aourid of enriching himself while he was governor of the Meknes-Tafilalet region. Nini’s daily column “Chouf Tchouf” (a colloquial expression meaning, “Look and see”) frequently targets what he views as acts of injustice, repression, and corruption for which he