Moroccan cartoonist Yasser Mounbir sentenced to four years in prison
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Yabiladi, Citizen Digital and RFI
Moroccan cartoonist Yasser Mounbir, 22, has been sentenced at first instance to four years in prison and fined 40,000 dirhams over caricatures of King Mohammed VI posted on Instagram, according to Yabiladi, Citizen Digital and RFI. RFI says he had been in pre-trial detention in Casablanca for more than five months and was tried on 30 October 2026.
Yasser Mounbir, 22, was found guilty of “insulting the king” and “insulting public officials” after publishing caricatures of Mohammed VI on Instagram. He was sentenced to four years in prison and fined 40,000 dirhams, according to his lawyer Farouk Mehdaoui, cited by Citizen Digital. RFI says he was tried for “insulting the king” on Friday 30 October 2026.
Arrested in June, Mounbir had been held in pre-trial detention for more than five months in a prison in Casablanca, according to RFI. The broadcaster also describes the cartoonist as a figure in Morocco’s graffiti scene.
Article 179 of Morocco’s Penal Code prohibits defamation, insult or infringement of the king’s privacy and provides for prison sentences of six months to two years. These sentences can be doubled when the offence is committed electronically, according to Citizen Digital.
His lawyer said the defence would appeal, while the Moroccan Association for Human Rights is calling for his release. Human rights advocates in Morocco are calling for an end to laws they consider repressive of freedom of expression and for pardons for people convicted over social media posts.
