Expressing theft on communication sites supports justice and feeds defamation

Whenever social media or videos spread through social media, mobile phones, computers, or targets of passers -by, and commercial shops, the controversy over the boundaries between the necessity and the importance of the exposure as a legitimate means of alerting society and deterring crime on the one hand, and the necessity of ensuring the right to privacy and criminalizing defamation of persons on the other hand.

In this context, some believe that the publication of this type of image and videos captured by phones and surveillance cameras helps in identifying the suspects, and contributes to accelerating the process of stopping them by the security authorities to achieve justice, in exchange for another category that sees that the sharing of these images falls within the framework of defaming individuals, especially if it comes to circulating wrong information that would offend innocent people.

Between negative and positive

Ashraf Lakhsi, a collective actor, said that “in light of the growing social media platforms, the visual content has become the attention and tracking of all segments of society, especially those platforms in which videos are circulated documenting criminal acts such as theft, violence, riots and sabotage …, and this matter cannot be classified in the positive or negative aspect as long as there are several contradictions.”

He added that “when one publishes a video clip of a crime as a matter of notification, he may find himself an exhibition of legal follow -up because the Moroccan legislator prohibits photographing people, whatever they are and whatever they committed criminal acts in public places, and publishing their photos on social media until they were convicted of their conviction for the crime subject to photography, which makes the video content publisher in terms of reporting a follow -up on the charge of defamation.”

He stressed the need to “reconsider the way of using videos documented by phone lenses and surveillance cameras because they sometimes exceed the goal of reporting a crime, as their promoters seek to win a large number of likes, posts and follow -up, and thus achieving profit gains becomes the main goal of this publishing and sharing.”

Reporting in accordance with the law

In a statement to the electronic newspaper Hespress, the collective actor indicated the necessity of “reviewing the legal texts by the Moroccan legislator, by updating a number of articles and texts to facilitate digital development” and “intensify communication meetings to explain these laws related to reporting criminal acts in legal ways.”

He explained that “avoiding sharing that type of image and videos, and making sure to report thefts and attacks in legal ways, would avoid the reporters to follow up on the charge of defamation, and protect, on the other hand, those suspects from virtual trials that they are subjected to by Facebook pages and commentators, who race the judicial time and issue ready -made rulings before presentation in view Justice, and this behavior is inconsistent with the presumption of innocence and the conditions of a fair trial.

Judgment and violation of the law

At a time when the images and videos of thieves are implicitly valued by social media activists, through their keenness to share and publish them on a large scale to help the security authorities to stop the concerned persons, Nabil, the Secretary -General of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights and fighting corruption, denounced these behaviors, describing them as a “blatant violation of the law.”

He said that “publishing pictures and videos of people accused of theft on social media constitutes a flagrant violation of human rights, especially the right to privacy,” explaining that “defamation of people accused of theft or any other crime, without observing their legal rights, is a serious violation of justice, and contributes to destroying the lives of these people before even trying them.”

The same spokesman, in a statement to Hespress, highlighted that “the people whose pictures or videos are published via social sites reserve the right to file a lawsuit against those who illegally publishing these articles, even after they are decided by the penalties prescribed to them, and that these materials remain on the Internet for long periods, which causes them to be easily difficult to erase.”

Streadful and future effects

The Secretary -General of the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights and fighting corruption stressed his “complete rejection of the use of social media as a tool to publish images and videos of thieves or those accused of any crime,” calling on all victims or witnesses to “provide these materials directly to the competent security or judicial authorities in order to take the necessary legal measures.”

He pointed out that “the publication of pictures and videos on the Internet does not serve justice, but rather exposes everyone to legal risks and increases chaos, and may be used by the enemies of the territorial integrity, who seek to distort the image of the honorable Kingdom of Morocco,” adding that “justice must take place through legal channels, and citizens must be responsible in dealing with such cases in accordance with the law.”

He concluded his clarifications by saying: “We seek the urgent intervention from the Public Prosecution to protect the individuals who are defamed, and the impact of defamation on the process of reintegrating prisoners into society must also be considered, as these individuals suffer from the stigma of defamation that hinder their efforts in rebuilding their lives,” asking: “What is the benefit of re -incorporating prisoners if defamation disrupts this process?”.