Maati Monjib ( ar, المعطي منجب, born 6 March 1962) is a Moroccan university professor, journalist, historian, writer and political activist. Monjib holds two PhDs, one from France in North African politics and another from Senegal on African political history. Monjib is known in Morocco for supporting Moroccan investigative journalism. He has criticized the monarchy in columns in the foreign press in the past and once ran a center that held meetings that included opposition groups. In 2015, Monjib was brought to justice along with six other journalists and activists in Morocco, and charged with "threatening national security", before being banned from traveling outside the country, in a case that was widely criticised by human rights groups and was considered as politically motivated. Since then, the trial has been postponed 15 times. On 29 December 2020, Monjib was arrested in

Rabat Rabat (, also , ; ar, الرِّبَاط, er-Ribât; ber, ⵕⵕⴱⴰⵟ, ṛṛbaṭ) is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 (2014) and a metropolitan populati ...

for "

money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

and fraud". The accusations from the Moroccan authorities claimed misuse of funds he received from international NGOs, even if the latter never expressed any doubt as to how the funds were used. After a hunger strike, he was granted conditional release on 23 March 2021. Several international groups and organizations contested and campaigned against the "harassment" Monjib faced, including the

Committee to Protect Journalists The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is an American independent non-profit, non-governmental organization, based in New York City, New York, with correspondents around the world. CPJ promotes press freedom and defends the rights of journa ...

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, and the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

Books

Among the books written by Maati Monjib are the following: * ''The Moroccan Monarchy and the Struggle for Power'' (Paris: L’Harmattan, 1992) * ''A Political Biography of Mehdi Ben Barka'' with

Zakya Daoud Zakya Daoud (real name Jacqueline Loghlam) is a French journalist. She was born in 1937 in Bernay in France. She was naturalized Moroccan and changed her name in 1959.Abdeslam Kadiri, "Portrait. Les mille vies de Zakya Daoud", ''Telquel'', 13 F ...

(Paris: Editions Michalon, 1996–2000) * ''Islamists Versus Secularists in Morocco'' (Amsterdam: IKV, 2009).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monjib, Maati 20th-century Moroccan historians Moroccan writers 21st-century Moroccan historians Moroccan educators 1962 births Living people