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Moroccan Rapper Gets Year in Prison for Critical Video

Associated Press

   FES, MOROCCO - Moroccan rapper Gnawi knew the police would come when he
   and two friends released an unusually outspoken video exposing their
   country's problems with migration and drugs and expressing frustration
   with the king.

   And sure enough, they did.
   Gnawi, a former military serviceman whose real name is Mohamed Mounir,
   was handed a one-year prison sentence Monday by a judge for insulting
   the police in a case that his supporters say is a backlash against
   growing public anger at authorities and over a lack of economic
   opportunity.
   Moroccan authorities have said Gnawi's arrest was prompted by an
   earlier video in which he insulted the police, a crime punishable by up
   to two years in prison.
   The video he released with rappers Lz3er and Weld L'Griya featured the
   song "3acha cha3b" ("Long Live the People"). Released Oct. 29, it
   immediately went viral, and now has more than 15.5 million hits on
   YouTube.
   The five-minute video rages against the powers-that-be and criticizes
   the country's widening economic gap, a message aimed at the country's
   disillusioned younger generation.
   One passage of the song reflects on the Hirak protest movement in
   Morocco's impoverished Rif mountain region. Another section profiles a
   mother whose sons died attempting to migrate to Europe, while another
   paints a picture of a young generation ruined by hashish and hard
   drugs.

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