Type | Société anonyme |
---|---|
Industry | Public Relations Marketing |
Founded | 2004 |
Founder | Othman Al Omeir Fouad Ali El Himma |
Headquarters | Rabat , Morocco |
Area served | Morocco |
Key people | Fouad Ali El Himma Karim Bouzida [1] |
Owner | Fouad Ali El Himma |
Mena Media Consulting or simply Mena Media is a Moroccan public relations firm owned by King of Morocco Mohammed VI's friend and influential advisor Fouad Ali El Himma. [2] [3]
The company was founded by Saudi businessman Othman Al Omeir in late 2004. It was later cited as belonging to El Himma. [4] Between 2008 and 2016, Othman El Ferdaous worked in the company as "director in charge of mission". [5]
According to local activists, Mena Media consulting was involved in Moroccan social media surveillance, [6] and went from "the simple aggregation of public information" to "listing and profiling of activists writing on blogs and social media platforms". [7]
Mohammed VI (Arabic: محمد السادس; born 21 August 1963) is the King of Morocco. He belongs to the Alaouite dynasty and ascended to the throne on 23 July 1999 upon the death of his father, King Hassan II.
Fouad Ali El Himma is an influential Moroccan politician and senior advisor for Mohammed VI of whom he is said to be a very close friend. Since he became Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior in November 1999, he has played a prominent role in the Moroccan State. In 2008, he founded the Authenticity and Modernity Party. El Himma was a classmate of Mohammed VI at the Collège Royale and was the director of his cabinet when he was crown prince.
Maroc Soir Group is a pro-government publishing company based in Casablanca, Morocco.
Assahra Al Maghribiya is a daily arabophone Moroccan newspaper of Maroc Soir Group. The group was acquired by Saudi Arabian media executive Othman Al Omeir. The paper was launched in 1989.
Ahmed Reda Benchemsi is a Moroccan journalist. He is the founder and was the publisher and editor of Tel Quel and Nichane magazines.
Othman Al Omeir is a Saudi-born British businessman, journalist and editor. He is considered to be close to King Salman of Saudi Arabia and former rulers, including King Fahd, King Hassan II and Hassan bin Talal.
Mounir Majidi is a Moroccan businessman. He has been the personal secretary of King Mohammed VI since 2000 and president of the royal holding, SIGER, since 2002. He is also the president of Maroc Culture, the organization behind the Mawazine festival, of the Fath Union Sport (FUS) Rabat, of the Mohammed VI soccer academy, and of the Cheikh Zaid hospital’s foundation.
Abderrahmane Sbai was a Moroccan politician and civil servant who was Minister Delegate to the Head of Government, in charge of National Defense Administration from 1997 to 2010. He held a degree in "geographic engineering".
Ali Anouzla is a Moroccan journalist, known for his critical articles of King Mohammed VI's rule. Since December 2010 he has been the editor-in-chief of the online media platform Lakome, which he co-founded along with Aboubakr Jamaï. Lakome was most notably behind the uncovering of the Daniel Galván scandal in which Mohammed VI was found to have pardoned, as a gesture "demonstrating good relations between him and King Juan Carlos I of Spain" a Spanish serial child rapist sentenced to 30 years in Morocco of which he spent only a year and a half. The scandal led to unprecedented spontaneous demonstrations against the Moroccan monarch in early August 2013. On 17 September 2013, Ali Anouzla was arrested in a raid against his home in Rabat, officially for having linked to an El Pais article which contained a video allegedly posted by AQIM and hosted on the website of the Spanish newspaper. He was later charged with "Knowingly providing material assistance to terrorists acts". Many observers saw this as a revenge for the Daniel Scandal episode.
The Daniel Galván scandal was a political scandal in which Mohammed VI, the King of Morocco, issued a pardon for a Spanish convicted serial child-rapist named Daniel Galván. The Spanish citizen was serving a 30 years prison sentence. He was arrested in Morocco in late 2011, for having raped at least 11 Moroccan children in Kenitra—a city he had been living in since 2004. The pardon came some 18 months after his incarceration as part of a diplomatic gesture from Mohammed VI to Spain, on the occasion of the 14th anniversary of his enthronement. The Pardon sparked unprecedented popular outrage in Morocco where several protests were held denouncing the monarch's decision. This prompted Mohammed VI to first issue a communiqué in which he denied being aware of the gravity of the crimes committed by Daniel Galvan, then to cancel his pardon but only after the Spanish citizen had already left the country several days before on an expired passport—with the knowledge of Moroccan authorities. It was revealed later that this wasn't the first time Mohammed VI had pardoned a convicted foreign paedophile, having pardoned Hervé Le Gloannec, a French citizen convicted of child rape and child pornography in 2006.
Yassine Mansouri is the director of Morocco's external intelligence agency, the DGED. Like other influential civil servants in Morocco, he was a classmate of Mohammed VI at the Collège Royal of Rabat.
Fadel Benyaich or Benaich is a senior member of the royal cabinet of King Mohammed VI, reportedly in charge of relations with Spain. He studied at the Collège Royal with Mohammed VI.
The Royal College is an education establishment located inside the royal palace in Rabat. Since its foundation in 1942 during the French Protectorate, it has specialized in the education of princes and princesses of the Alaouite dynasty.
Samira Sitail is a Moroccan journalist and important figure in the country's first broadcasting channel 2M TV, where she holds the position of "Director of Information" since May 2001. She entertains close relations with Fouad Ali El Himma, the influential friend and advisor of Mohammed VI.
Karim Bouzida is a Moroccan PR agent. He is the communication strategy Chargé de mission at the royal court of Mohammed VI, reportedly in charge of promoting the image of the monarch. He is also the director-general of Mena Media Consulting, a PR and communications strategy agency owned by the monarch's friend and influential advisor Fouad Ali El Himma.
Abdellatif Hammouchi is the head of the Moroccan national police directorate, the General Directorate for National Security or DGST as well as head of secret services, the General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance or DGST . He is also an advisor to Mohammed VI on terrorism-related affairs.
Eco-Médias is a Moroccan media company partially owned by several businesspeople. It publishes newspapers that are widely distributed in the country and whose editorial line is pro-government.
The General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance, is the internal intelligence agency of the Moroccan state. It is tasked with the monitoring of potentially subversive domestic activities.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Fez, Morocco.
Othman El Ferdaous, is a Moroccan politician. He has been the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports since April 6, 2020.