2019 arrest On 26 December 2019, Radi was summoned to a police station in
Casablanca, where he was arrested. Authorities cited a tweet from April 2019 in which Radi criticized a magistrate for sentencing 42 activists from the Hirak Rif Movement, including
Nasser Zefzafi, to 20 years in prison. In an interview with
Amy Goodman on
Democracy Now!, Radi stated that his arrest was likely related to his speech at a journalism awards ceremony in Algeria, where he criticized what he called "economic predation" in Morocco and described a model of "
state capture." His arrest was condemned by the
Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), the
National Union of Moroccan Journalists, and
Human Rights Watch. Demonstrations demanding his release were held in Casablanca, Rabat, Agadir, Paris, and Brussels. Radi was released on bail on 31 December 2019, two days before his scheduled court appearance on 2 January 2020. The hearing was postponed to 5 March 2020.
2020 cellphone surveillance In June 2020,
Amnesty International reported that Radi’s personal phone had been infected with
Pegasus, a spyware tool developed by Israeli firm
NSO Group. The spyware can covertly access a device’s camera, microphone, messages, emails, and location. Amnesty concluded that the Moroccan authorities were responsible for the surveillance, as the NSO Group claims to sell its products exclusively to governments. The Moroccan government rejected the allegations, calling them "serious and tendentious." It claimed Amnesty’s evidence was inconclusive and lacked scientific rigor. Amnesty responded that the use of Pegasus required control over national telecommunications infrastructure, which only the government possessed. On 2 July, the news outlet
Le360 accused Radi of working as a "British intelligence agent." According to
Le Monde, Moroccan prosecutors suspected Radi of receiving foreign funding and maintaining contact with a
liaison officer allegedly operating under diplomatic cover since 1979. The General Directorate for National Security stated that Radi was taken into custody for "public drunkenness and violence." The
Committee to Protect Journalists and the
Bertha Foundation noted that Radi’s arrest disrupted his investigation, funded by the Bertha Foundation, into land expropriation in Morocco. Radi appeared before a judge on 24 December 2020 for a brief hearing and remained in detention thereafter. In March 2022, he was sentenced on appeal to six years in prison in a dual case involving espionage and rape. He was also ordered to pay 200,000 dirhams in compensation to the civil party. His appeal was rejected by the
Court of Cassation on 18 July 2023, and he remained incarcerated. Radi was released on 29 July 2024 after receiving a royal pardon from King
Mohammed VI, coinciding with
Throne Day celebrations. ==See also==