The demonstrations were anything but spontaneous. As Le Journal and others have credibly documented, Moroccan officials recruited and provided transportation to men, women, and children from poor neighborhoods who had been told that the target of the protests were "infidels" who had reprinted the cartoons. Although witnesses said that local officials and vehicles were present at and contributed to the protests, further investigation is needed to identify which public officials ordered and supervised these activities. Minister of Communication Nabil Benabdellah denied that Moroccan authorities had any hand in the demonstrations. Other than such denials, Moroccan officials have said nothing publicly about them. Le Journal's staff understandably said they felt physically endangered by the anti-Journal demonstrations and hostile coverage on state television, at a time when scores of persons had died across the Muslim world in angry cartoon-related protests. In 2003, Judge Alaoui sentenced Mrabet to four years in prison and a fine for "insulting the king," "undermining the monarchy, and "endangering the integrity of national territory" via articles, cartoons and interviews he published. King Mohamed VI pardoned Mrabet in January 2004, after he had served more than seven months in prison. Appeal courts confirm two costly libel judgments against TelQuel Moroccan courts have imposed heavy libel damages twice in recent months on TelQuel. On February 7, the Casablanca Appeals Court ordered the magazine to pay 500,000 DH to Touria Jaïdi (also known by Bouabid, her married name), president of the Moroccan Association to Help Children in Difficulty (l'Association Marocaine d'aide aux enfants en situation précaire), for reporting erroneously in its issue of May 7, 2005, that she was under police investigation for misappropriating funds. The Appeals Court thereby reduced the 900,000 DH in damages awarded by the Casablanca Court of First Instance on October 24, 2005. The appeals court confirmed, however, the fines of 5,000 DH apiece imposed on TelQuel publisher Ahmed Benchemsi and journalist Karim Boukhari. In separate trials, courts convicted three other publications – al-Ahdath al-Maghribiyya ("Moroccan Events," an Arabic-language daily), al-Ayyam, and al-Ousbou'iyya al-Jadida – that had carried, in various forms, the same erroneous information about Jaïdi. But both at first instance and on appeal, the courts imposed far higher damage awards on TelQuel than on the other papers, even though at least two of them – al-Ahdath al-Maghribiyya and al-Ayyam – have much higher circulations than TelQuel, and even though TelQuel had published an apology and full retraction in the issue following the one containing the erroneous information.9 It appears that the discrepancy can be explained by a determination to punish or pressure TelQuel, whosecriticalreporting on government affairs attracts an elite readership. On April 14, an appeals court confirmed the lower-court conviction of al-Ousbou'iyya al-Jadida, maintaining the 20,000 DH in fines and 30,000 DH in damages to Jaïdi. On April 18, appeals courts confirmed the libel convictions of al-Ahdath al-Maghribiyya and al-Ayyam. For the former (cases 71/67/05 and 72/67/05), the court confirmed two 20,000 DH fines, one against alAhdath director Mohamed Brini and one against journalist Abdelmjid Hachadi, and raised the damage award due Jaïdi from 100,000 to 250,000 DH while lowering the damage award due her