🇲🇦Week of October 26

A criminal court in Ain Sebaa sentenced Rachid Cherkaoui, an anaesthesia specialist known as the "doctor of the poor", to one year in prison on 21 October in a case tied to statements and criticism about the management of Ibn Rushd university hospital in Casablanca. The ruling has drawn a wave of solidarity from rights and union circles.1

Mustapha El Kihal, national secretary of the Democratic Confederation of Labour, criticised the court rulings against Cherkaoui and other defendants in the Ibn Rushd case, saying the prosecutions followed the defendants' reporting of irregularities inside the hospital.2

Cherkaoui is an anaesthesia and intensive care doctor; the case against him concerns remarks and criticism of how the Casablanca university hospital is run. The court that convicted him was the criminal first-instance court in Ain Sebaa.12

Dozens of residents of Bouadel commune in Taounate province marched on foot against a project to bottle spring water, demanding clarity on the project's fate and on who stands behind it. They raised slogans rejecting commercial exploitation of spring water without guarantees, citing fears over water resources and the farming activities residents depend on for daily income.1

The women's federation of the Association for Women's Rights declared solidarity with the women of Bouadel over the protests tied to the commercial spring water project. It called for the exploitation to be suspended as a precaution until the project's safety and its effects on water resources and residents' needs are verified.2

A government report attached to Morocco's draft 2027 finance bill shows the public broadcaster Soread 2M ran a financial deficit of 356 million dirhams in 2025. The National Company for Radio and Television (SNRT) recorded a deficit of 131 million dirhams over the same year.1

The same report projects rail passenger traffic reaching about 100 million travelers by 2030, with the National Railway Office expecting turnover of 10 billion dirhams and an operating margin above 5 billion dirhams. Gradual operation of new infrastructure and rolling stock is cited as a factor that could contribute to that growth.2

The two figures describe different institutions and are not competing accounts of one number: the 356 million dirham deficit belongs to Soread 2M, while the 100 million figure is a projected passenger count for the railway office by 2030.12

Morocco's industrial exports are now worth 1 billion dirhams a day, Omar Hjira, the minister delegate to the minister of industry and trade in charge of foreign trade, said on Monday. The ministry plans to assess all of the country's free trade agreements to address the imbalance in the kingdom's trade balance, he said.1

Imports rose 15.8 percent while exports grew 8.7 percent, Hjira told a plenary session, a gap that deepens the challenge of narrowing the trade deficit. The government is seeking to strengthen the competitiveness of national products and widen their presence in international markets.2

Brazil's Supreme Electoral Court declared President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva the winner of the presidential runoff, handing the leftist incumbent a fourth term. Lula took about 51.76 percent of the vote against conservative candidate Flávio Bolsonaro's 48.24 percent after the electronic ballot boxes were fully counted.12

Flávio Bolsonaro said he would not accept his defeat to Lula and would push to have the second round cancelled. He also questioned the conduct of the vote.34

The result was carried by outlets across the political spectrum, from the oppositional Akhbar Alyaoum to the pro-government Masrawy and wire services including DW.com and France 24. All reported the same outcome: Lula's victory and Bolsonaro's refusal to recognize it.1453

Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, returned to her country on Sunday after about ten months in exile. She left the country at the end of last year to receive the Nobel Prize, after a period in which she stayed out of sight because of a wave of arrests that followed the re-election of Nicolás Maduro.1

Machado announced the return on the X platform, writing: "I am here. With you." Her return comes as political talks on Venezuela's future continue, with differing positions between the movement she leads and the US administration over the path of the transition.12

Marine Le Pen, leader of France's far-right, launched her presidential election campaign on Sunday with a rally in the city of Orléans, held under heavy security and accompanied by protests around the National Rally party conference. It is her fourth run for the presidency, with the election scheduled for April.12

Le Pen pledged to restore order and confidence in France and said she would appoint National Rally president Jordan Bardella as prime minister if she wins. She presented the outlines of her program under a slogan and promised a political "renaissance" if elected.12

She said her project is not built on a "violent break" or a "destructive revolution." The rally's slogan, quoted in the headline of one account, was: "Beautiful days await France."2