Saida el Alami
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Saida el Alami | |
|---|---|
سعيدة العلمي | |
| Occupation | Human rights activist |
| Organization | Les femmes marocaines contre la détention politique |
| Criminal charges | Insulting government officials |
| Criminal penalty | Three years' imprisonment |
| Criminal status | Pardoned |
Saida el Alami (Arabic: سعيدة العلمي; born c. 1974) is a Moroccan human rights activist and blogger. A member of Les femmes marocaines contre la détention politique, she rose to prominence for her use of social media to address social and political issues in Morocco. Her activism has led to her being arrested on multiple occasions since 2022, when she was sentenced to three years imprisonment before being pardoned in 2024. In 2025, el Alami was arrested again on charges that human rights organisations linked to her online activism and sentenced to a further three years in prison.
El Alami is a member of Les femmes marocaines contre la détention politique, a collective that publicly denounced politically-motivated detentions of Moroccan human rights activists.[1][2] She frequently used her Facebook page to address social and political issues in Morocco, describing herself as a "political dissident". El Alami often posted in support of imprisoned journalists and activists and frequently criticised Moroccan authorities for corruption.[3][4]
2022 arrest and imprisonment
On 23 March 2022, el Alami was arrested by the National Judicial Police Brigade, where she was interrogated and detained for two days before her case was heard at the Aïn Sebaâ Court of First Instance. Evidence presented against her including a blog post on 22 March in which she criticised the Director General of Morocco's National Security Directorate and the Director of the Surveillance Directorate for reportedly sending officers to ask her neighbours about her whereabouts. Another post cited, dated 20 January 2022, included her criticising the Moroccan judiciary for corruption.[1][2][3] In April 2022, she was sentenced to two years imprisonment by a primary court for insulting government officials and bodies, and spreading false information. She also received a fine.[5][6] In September 2022, the Casablanca Court of Appeal increased her sentence to three years imprisonment.[7][8][9]
On 26 March 2022, a fellow blogger, Mohamed Bouzlouf, was arrested after expressing solidarity with el Alami on Facebook; he was subsequently sentenced to two months imprisonment.[2]
In May 2023, while detained, el Alami went on trial again, in Casablanca,[10] for comments made during her 2022 trial which were alleged to have "insulted the king" and "insulted a magistrate or public official in the exercise of their duties". El Alami's legal team argued that she was exercising her right to freedom of expression to objectively criticise state institutions. El Alami was found guilty and sentenced to an additional two years imprisonment accompanied by a fine of 5,000 dirhams.[10][11] On appeal in October 2023, the prison sentence was reduced to eight months, though her 2022 sentence remained set at three years.[4][12][13]
In June 2023, el Alami's sister alleged that a camera had been installed in her cell and that she was under surveillance by the state. The General Delegation for Prisons and Reintegration Administration denied the allegation.[3]
In July 2024, el Alami was among 2476 people to receive a royal pardon from King Mohammed VI on Throne Day.[7][8][9][13]