Moroccan Facebook user faces prison for fake royalty profile
February 19, 2008
Today, February 19, many Moroccan bloggers are on strike, protesting against the imprisonment of a Moroccon Facebook user who created a fake profile.
Sami Ben Gharbia writes on a Global Voices Online blog about a case of imprisonment of an IT engineer who created a fake Facebook profile of a Morocco royalty, Prince Moulay Rachid.
Fouad Mourtada confessed he created the fake profile as a joke, following the example of many other Facebook users who create fake accounts of celebrities.
According to the blog, “Fouad Mourtada could face five years in prison “for having done what thousands of people throughout the world do everyday: Create a profile of a celebrity or a star on Facebook,” his lawyer Ali Ammar said, adding: “This is a cultural problem. This is the first time that a Moroccan poses as a very important personality on the Internet (…) This is already a common practice in Europe and the United States.”
“This frivolous gesture earned him a terrifying response from the Moroccan state, as he tells in his own words on a website set up by his family,” writes eatbees on a Talking Points Memo blog. “Happily, Fouad has found support in the Moroccan blogosphere,” the author also writes.
Picture: Global Voices Online