Ahmed Charai and Ignacio Cembrero.
The Diplomat. Madrid
A judge has recently closed the case whose proceedings caused the Spanish Government to fear a deterioration in the lengthy honeymoon it is enjoying with Morocco and which is producing such good results, particularly in such matters as the fight against jihadi terrorism and putting the brake on irregular immigration.
The Head of the Court of First Instance No. 46 in Madrid has rejected the claim presented by the Moroccan industrialist, Ahmed Charai, against the Spanish journalist, Ignacio Cembrero and the El Mundo newspaper for impugning his reputation.
Cembrero wrote in numerous documents and mails disseminated in 2014 through Twitter that Charai apeared to be a close collaborator of the Moroccan overseas secret service (DGED). The judge deemed Charai to be a public figure and said that the facts divulged by the journalist “are of unquestionable interest to national, even international, public opinion”. In addition, he considered that there was veracity and diligence in the informative labour work revealed by Cembrero.
Charai was already condemned in Spain in 2011 for libelling the former Spanish President, José María Aznar, on attributing to him the paternity of the daughter of the French MInister of Justice, Rachid Dati, in his journal –L´Observateur du Maroc- in 2008, which was also false. He was also condemned in that same year in the United States for bringing in an excessive amount of money in cash through Washington Airport.
The judge rejected the complaint of a Moroccan industrialist against the journalist Ignacio Cembrero
The Spanish journalist, who has spent the greater part of his professional life at the El Pais newspaper, is an expert on Maghreb affairs and has for some time been under the watchful eye of the Moroccan authorities annoyed by his informative articles. This same year the Supreme Court closed a case against Cembrero whom Morocco accused of glorifying terrorism by publishing an Al Qaida video on his blog.
The position of Morocco and the good relationship it enjoys with the current government could have had an obvious influence on the refusal which the journalist received from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when he endeavoured to include a statement in support of his defence to the accusation by Charai.
The Spanish Consul-General in Paris, Javier Conde, refused to certify an affidavit made by the French writer and journalist, Jean Pierre Tuqoui, who was unable to travel to Madrid for the court hearing. In it, it considered the documents linking Charai to the Moroccan secret service to be irrefutable. The Consul alleged that it dealt with “a political matter between Cembrero and Morocco and he was not about to interfere. Conde’s position was later ratified by the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Cristóbal González-Aller, who in response to the complaint by Cembrero replied to him by letter stating that a consul is not a notary “but a certifying official whose functions (…) predominate his consular or diplomatic nature ” and who, consequently, is correct in confining himself to “the framework of international relations”.
Cembrero expressed his annoyance at the attitude of the Ministry and denounced the defenceless situation in which he found himself. In his case, he was backed by the Ombudsman, the Madrid Press Association and the Press Associations Federation.
