Lakome.com
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Lakome.com was an independent Moroccan news website. It was started in 2010 and banned in 2013.
| |
Website type | News website |
|---|---|
| Available in | Arabic, French |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Dissolved | 2013 |
| Successor | lakome2 |
| Headquarters | Casablanca, |
Country of origin | Morocco |
| Creator | Ali Anouzla Aboubakr Jamaï |
| Website | lakome |
| Launched | 22 September 2010 [1] |
| Current status | Inactive |
Content license | All rights reserved |
| Written in | Joomla! |
the website returned as Lakome2.com in 2015.[2]
History and profile
Lakome.com was founded in December 2010 by Ali Anouzla, later joined by Aboubakr Jamaï. The site had articles in Arabic and in French.[3] Ali Anouzla was also the editor of the English edition of the website.[4] Aboubakr Jamaï was the editor of the French edition.[4]
A laureate of the Committee to Protect Journalists' International Press Freedom Award[5] and the World Association of Newspapers' Gebran Tueni Prize,[3] Jamaï had previously started two newspapers in Morocco, Le Journal Hebdomadaire and Assahifa al-Ousbouiya. His papers were banned by the government of Morocco on multiple occasions for their explorations of politically taboo topics, and Jamaï soon won an international reputation for independent reporting.[5][6] After a series of ruinous libel suits and alleged government pressure on advertisers, however, the papers went bankrupt, with Le Journal shut down by court order in 2010.[7]
When the Arab Spring-inspired 2011 protests broke out in Morocco, however, Jamaï began a web-based news service, Lakome.com. The site had a small staff and focuses on reporting political events throughout Morocco. By April 2011, it was the fourth-most-visited website in Morocco.[8]
On 17 October 2013, both the Arabic and French version of the site were closed down in Morocco. As of May 2014, the website remained blocked.[9][10]