Court’s sentence over posts denouncing country’s ties with Israel is ‘harsh and incomprehensible’, says lawyer

A Moroccan internet user has been sentenced to five years’ jail for criticising the king on Facebook over the country’s normalisation of ties with Israel, his lawyer has said.

Said Boukioud, 48, was jailed on Monday for posts denouncing the normalisation “in a way that could be interpreted as criticism of the king”, lawyer El Hassan Essouni said on Wednesday, adding that he had appealed.