Officially recognized human rights groups are among the numerous nongovernmental organizations that operate openly, but under official scrutiny. Most prominent is the Moroccan League for the Defense of Human Rights. Its reports have denounced deaths and torture in police custody, harsh prison conditions, harassment of former political prisoners, and failures to investigate the disappearance of at least 300 Western Saharan activists during the last decade. Official impunity for past abuses appears intact, even for those admitted by the government. Constitutional guarantees of free expression are sometimes ignored in law and practice.
Broadcast media are mostly government-controlled.
Independent and pluralistic print media operate, but are subject to official pressures and exercise self-censorship. Publication licensing requirements allow political influence over the media, and the Interior Ministry may seize or censor publications under the press code. Criticizing the King or his family or the monarchy is punishable by 5 to 20 years' imprisonment. Criticisms of the validity of Morocco's claim to Western Sahara and the sanctity of Islam are also prohibited. Since 1986, numerous issues of foreign publications have been seized, and at least 16 books, magazines, and newspapers have been banned.