Aboubakr Jamaï
Aboubakr Jamaï | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1968 Rabat, Morocco |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, financial professional, academic |
| Known for | Founding Le Journal Hebdomadaire and Assahifa al-Ousbouiya; International Press Freedom Award (2003) |
Aboubakr Jamaï (; born 1968 in Rabat, Morocco) is a Moroccan journalist and financial professional, recognized for his role in establishing the newspapers Le Journal Hebdomadaire and Assahifa al-Ousbouiya. In 2003, he was honored with the International Press Freedom Award by the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Background
Aboubakr Jamaï is the son of the distinguished journalist Khalid Jamai, who frequently opposed King Hassan II and was incarcerated in 1973. Jamaï graduated from ISCAE in 1992. The following year, he co-founded Upline Securities, Morocco’s pioneering independent investment bank, which played a leading role in the nation’s inaugural privatization IPO. In 1996, he acted as a financial consultant to the Executive Secretariat of the Middle East and North Africa Economic Summit.
At age 29, Jamaï launched the French-language weekly Le Journal Hebdomadaire in Casablanca in 1997, drawing inspiration from Spain’s El País. Initially aimed at business professionals with a circulation of about 3,000 copies, the paper quickly broadened its readership and advertising base. In 1998, he introduced Assahifa al-Ousbouiya, an Arabic-language counterpart designed to attract a wider demographic.
Jamaï obtained an MBA from Said Business School at the University of Oxford in 1999. After being compelled to leave Morocco in 2007 and stepping down as publisher, he completed a Masters in Public Administration at Harvard Kennedy School in 2008.
Subsequently, he taught Contemporary Middle Eastern Politics at the University of San Diego, worked as an independent consultant in Spain, and since 2014 has been serving as Dean of the School of Business and International Relations at The American College of the Mediterranean (ACM) in Aix-en-Provence, France. In this capacity, he oversees business curricula and internship programs at ACM's study abroad institution, IAU College.
Conflict with the Moroccan government
After King Hassan II passed away in July 1999, his successor Mohammed VI assumed power, generating expectations for democratic reforms. Jamaï’s newspapers maintained a critical stance toward the new monarch’s gradual approach to constitutional democracy. This criticism led Moroccan printing companies to refuse to print his publications, forcing Jamaï to outsource printing to France despite significant shipping expenses.
In April 2000, Le Journal featured an interview with Muhammad Abdelaziz, leader of the Saharawi separatist Polisario Front. This prompted the Moroccan Ministry of Communications to suspend both Le Journal and Assahifa al-Ousbouiya, even though the latter had not published the interview. The Ministry justified the ban by accusing the papers of "excesses" related to Morocco’s territorial sovereignty and "collusion with foreign interests." Following international condemnation, both newspapers were permitted to resume operations.
This confrontation enhanced the reputation of Jamaï’s publications and increased their advertising revenue. Nevertheless, in November 2000, republishing a letter that implicated socialist figures—including then-Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi—in a 1972 assassination conspiracy resulted in another suspension. At the January 2001 International Federation for Human Rights Congress held in Casablanca, Jamaï declared a hunger strike demanding the ban be lifted. International advocacy—including intervention from German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder—led to the government allowing publication once again.
During coverage of the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in 2006, Le Journal released a version of the cartoon with blacked-out images. Subsequently, its offices were targeted by protests that Jamaï asserted were orchestrated by government agents.
Benaissa defamation suit
Following the 2000 ban, Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa initiated a defamation case against Jamaï and editor Ali Amar concerning articles published in 1999 that accused Benaissa of profiting from the sale of an official residence during his tenure as ambassador to the United States. Jamaï implied that Benaissa had awaited a prompt to take legal action after the ban was announced. In 2001, both defendants were convicted; Jamaï was sentenced to three months in prison and ordered to pay fines amounting to 2 million dirhams (approximately US$200,000). Reporters Without Borders criticized the ruling as an exploitation of financial penalties aimed at stifling the press.
By 2006, Jamaï was confronted with over US$1.5 million in accumulated fines, damages, and overdue taxes stemming from several legal battles. Reports indicated that in 2002, advertisers withdrew their support under governmental pressure—a strategy Jamaï interpreted as a covert effort to financially cripple him amid growing international attention.
That same year, Jamaï lost a libel case brought by Claude Moniquet of the Brussels-based European Strategic Intelligence and Security Center. Jamaï had claimed Moniquet’s analysis of the Polisario Front was "tele-guided by the royal palace," resulting in a fine of US$360,000. Reporters Without Borders described the trial as politically charged and potentially devastating for Le Journal. Although Prince Moulay Hicham Ben Abdallah offered to help resolve Jamaï’s debts, Jamaï refused, choosing instead to highlight media repression rather than submit.
Jamaï stepped down from his editorial roles and accepted a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University before making his return to Morocco in 2009.
Confronted with escalating debts and an advertising boycott, Le Journal halted publication in 2010 when court officials enforced a shutdown. Jamaï declared his exit from journalism, stating that "serious journalism has become impossible in Morocco today."
Lakome.com
Amid the 2011 Moroccan protests inspired by the Arab Spring, Jamaï founded the online news platform Lakome.com. Operating with a modest team, the website concentrated on Moroccan political affairs and ranked as the fourth most visited site in Morocco by April 2011.
Personal life
Aboubakr Jamaï is married to Leïla Aït Hmitti. He practices Islam devoutly while firmly supporting the principle of separating religion from government affairs.
Awards and recognition
In 2003, Jamaï was honored with the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists for his courageous reporting. He became a Yale World Fellow in 2004 and was recognized as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2005. In 2007, he was awarded a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, followed by receiving the Tully Center Free Speech Award from Syracuse University in 2008.
The World Association of Newspapers presented him with the Gebran Tueni Prize for defending press freedom in 2010. He held a Richard von Weizsäcker Fellowship at Robert Bosch Stiftung in 2013 and earned the Leaders for Democracy Award from the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) in 2016.