Four journalists and a Moroccan parliamentarian on Wednesday each received a six month suspended jail term and were fined over the publication of content deemed confidential.
In 2017, Moroccan newspapers published details about the attendance of former Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane of a meeting by the parliamentary fact-finding commission that was formed by the House of Councillors.
After the debate at the commission tackled the huge deficit at the Moroccan pension fund, excerpts were published in the media. Later, Speaker Hakim Benchamach addressed Minister of Justice and Liberties Mustafa Ramid, demanding him to launch an investigation over the publication of confidential information.
The Public Prosecution decided to take the journalists - Mohamed Aheddad, Abdulhak Balashkar, Kawthar Zaki, and Abdul Ilah Suhair - and the parliamentarian to court under the penal code.
Other than the jail terms, they were each fined 10,000 dirhams ($1,030).
The National Union of the Moroccan Press held several sit-ins during the trial to denounce the decision of Benchamach, which they said undermined press freedoms.
The union said that the House of Councillors is required to defend freedom of expression and the press, and to adopt advanced legislation that protects journalists.
