Trial of Moroccan journalists raises fears of repression

FILE PHOTO: Journalist and activist Omar Radi waits outside court in Casablanca, Morocco March 12, 2020. REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal/File Photo

CASABLANCA (Reuters) - New hearings took place on Tuesday in the trials of two dissident journalists in Morocco accused of sexual assault, whose detention rights groups see as evidence of increasing state repression and a push to silence dissent.

The two men, Soulimane Raisouni and Omar Radi, who both deny the accusations against them, have spent a year in pre-trial detention and Raisouni has been on hunger strike for over two months, raising concerns about his health.