Moroccan jailed for royal Facebook 'joke'
CASABLANCA, Morocco (AFP) — A court in Morocco has jailed a computer engineer for three years for joining the social networking site Facebook by setting up a false profile of King Mohammed VI's brother.
The court in Casablanca sentenced Fouad Mourtada to three years in prison on Friday and fined him 10,000 dinar (900 euros, 1,300 dollars) for "the use of false information and usurping the identity of the prince."
The defence argued to no avail that Mourtada, 27, had just been having fun and that similar cases in the United States, Canada, and Europe never went to trial.
"On Facebook you find sites of Sarkozy, Bush and Blair as well as sports stars and film stars without certifying that they are real," said his lawyer Ali Ammar.
Asked why he had set up a Facebook profile under the name of Prince Moulay Rachid, the king's younger brother, Mourtada replied: "I admire him, I like him a lot and I have never caused him any wrong, it was just a joke. I am innocent."
