Moroccan journalist Ali Lmrabet has gone on hunger strike Wednesday 24^th of June. Lmrabet started a sit-in in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva. Reason of his protest is the refusal by the Moroccan authorities to renew his passport and ID-document. He claims Morocco wants to silence him by turning him into an undocumented person.

Ali Lmrabet on hunger strike in front of the UN Palace of Nations in Geneva

Earlier Lmrabet, who has dual French and Moroccan nationality, was denied a Moroccan residence certificate in the city of Tetuan, where he was born. Without these documents Lmrabet is not allowed to restart working as a journalist in Morocco and relaunch his two satirical weeklies (one in Arabic and one in French).

This is not Lmrabet’s first hunger strike. Twelve years ago he refused to eat during 50 days. At the time he was in prison, condemned to three years for “insulting” king Mohamed VI. After an international campaign calling for his release he was pardoned in January 2004.

In April 2005 the Moroccan authorities forbade him to exercise the journalistic profession for ten years. This “Berufsverbot” has expired now, but Lmrabet can still not return to journalism is in his home country. For his on-line publication Demain (in French, Spanish and Arabic) see: http://www.demainonline.com/

For an account in French in the Tribune de Geneve see:

http://www.tdg.ch/news/standard/journaliste-marocain-greve-faim/story/17741203?track