Terrorists, Spies, and Diplomatic Crises
The Birth of Morocco’s Multimedia Prison Literature
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21728929 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brahim El Guabli (0000-0002-0862-1528, Williams College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Publication date | 2025-01-20 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | CLCWeb Comparative Literature and Culture (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1481-4374 • E-ISSN: 1481-4374 |
| Publisher | Purdue University (bepress) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.7771/1481-4374.4880 |
| OpenAlex | W4406712558 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 3 |
This article captures the literary shift that accompanied the transformation of the nature of political imprisonment in Morocco in the last twenty years. Focusing on the new victims of state violence, who fall within two categories: prisoners accused of terrorism and those accused of heinous sexual crimes, this article argues that the emergence of these new criminal profiles has led to the establishment of a transnational “Multimedia Prison Literature” (MPL). Drawing on the cases of Ali Arras, a Belgian-Moroccan whom Spain delivered to Morocco for terrorist charges, and Mohamed Hajib, a German-Moroccan citizen whom Germany extradited to his country of origin also because of accusations of terrorism, this article reveals the changed landscape of Moroccan political imprisonment, which now includes Euro-Moroccans whose basic human rights have been violated in the process. In addition to Arras and Hajib, the article investigates the writings of Driss Radi, the father of Omar Radi, a journalist who was accused of and sentenced to jail for a sexual crime. I argue that Driss Radi, Ali Arras, and Mohamed Hajib have used social media and audiovisual platforms to mobilize empathy and reveal the truth about the different facets of their imprisonment (Arras and Hajib) or that of their relatives (Radi). Drawing on the infinite communicative and writing possibilities enabled by social, multimedia platforms, these MPL makers have successfully garnered large following and made prison writing into an interactive, transnational genre which should be studied in conjunction with the canonical prison literature that was produced about the infamous Years of Lead (1956-1999)
Media studies · Political science · Prison · Sociology · Hispanic-African Historical Relations · History · Law
| Highly cited | No |
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