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University professors concerned about academic freedom restrictions on Maâti Monjib
Mounia B.
a lancé une pétition à destination de
Président de l’Université Mohamed V, Rabat
On April 22,
2019, historian Maâti Monjib went on a 48-hour hunger strike. A professor and
researcher at the Mohammed V University in Rabat, he is threatened with
dismissal from the university and from the civil service, after
having agreed to participate, as rapporteur, in Mounia
Bennani-Chraïbi’s professorial thesis defense (HDR) on February 13,
2019, at the École normale supérieure (ENS) in Paris. Four years earlier, Maâti
Monjib led a 24-day hunger strike, to defend his freedom of movement because he
was banned from traveling by decision of the Government. Following many
interviews with international media and the organization of training sessions
in the field of citizen journalism, he was prosecuted along with six other
people for “threatening the internal security of the State.” The trial is still
ongoing and Maâti Monjib is the subject of incessant state press campaigns of
defamation and moral harassment in his workplace. Today, Pr.
Monjib risks being sacked by the administration of the Ministry of
Higher Education, “because” of his participation, last
February, at an academic event abroad. Invited to be part of the
defense committee of Mounia Bennani-Chraïbi, he promptly notified the
administration and produced all the required documents, including the official
invitation to the event at the ENS. Shortly after his return to Rabat, he
received several “requests for clarification” from the administration for being
absent for a few days to participate in this academic event. Each
time, he responded by physically submitting his written answers to
the Institute’s administration, as further proof of his continuous presence at
his workplace. However, his supervisory ministry has initiated proceedings
against him for “abandonment” of his position for about two months,
which is totally false and politically motivated. Because his participation in
the academic event in Paris took place from the 12th to the 15th
of February. And during these very two months he taught his
students and participated in institutional activities of his institute of
affiliation. His signatures in presence lists and his students’ signatures in
the presence list his course are a proof of his presence and his academic work.
By requiring him to sign a “return to work” form within a seven-day
deadline, the administration of the Ministry has given Pr. Monjib an unfair
choice: recognizing false accusations or being dismissed from public
service. Pr. Monjib has filed an official record stating that he had not
abandoned his position. He also received the formal and written
support and testimonies of 19 of his colleagues at the Institute of African
Studies. This testimony states that Pr. Monjib has been present normally and
regularly carried out his duties at his workplace during the last two months.
All the members of the HDR jury also attest that he fully fulfilled his
duties on the defense committee. The University prides itself on its
website on promoting international academic cooperation and professors’
mobility. It is paradoxical to absurdly sanction Professor Maâti
Monjib while he represented his University at a prestigious
institution. As university professors, we express our deep concern about this
restriction on academic freedom.
The First
signatories : Mounia Bennani-Chraïbi,
University of Lausanne, Switzerland ; Dina
El Khawaga, Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship, American University of Beirut, Lebanon ; Hassan
Rachik, Université Hassan II, Casablanca, Morocco; Johanna Siméant-Germanos, École normale supérieure de
Paris, France ; Michel Camau,
Institut d’études politiques d’Aix-en-Provence, France ; Abdellah
Hammoudi, Princeton University, United States ; Omar
Iharchane, Université Cadi Ayyad, Marrakech, Morocco ; Olivier
Fillieule, University of Lausanne, Switzerland ;
David Stener, Christopher Newport
University, United States ; Isabel Maria Casimiro, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique ; Ousmane
Kane, Harvard University, Cambridge, United States ; John
Chalcraft, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), United
Kingdom ; Thierry Desrues, IESA-CSIC, Cordoue, Espagne ; Bernabé López García, Université Autónoma, Madrid, Espagne ;
Shamil Jeppie, University of Cape Town, Afrique du Sud.
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