RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A Moroccan court has sentenced a human rights activist convicted of falsely claiming she was tortured by police to one year in prison.
Ouafa Charaf was also fined 4,500 euros ($6,000) by the court Tuesday, the second time in recent weeks that a human rights activist was convicted on similar charges.
Charaf couldn’t prove her claims of police involvement, which authorities denied.
Morocco’s main human rights group says young activists like her are increasingly under threat.
Morocco has been widely lauded for its reformist response to the 2011 pro-democracy protests during the Arab Spring. But activists say that rather than carrying out promises of freedoms, authorities have cracked down on dissent. Many see a return to the oppressive human rights situation that existed before the Arab Spring.
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