Ahmed Benchemsi

Ahmed Benchemsi
Ahmed Benchemsi in an exclusive interview with The Oslo Times Senior Media Advisor Matthew Alan Classen
Born	May 19, 1974
Nationality	Moroccan
Alma mater	Paris 8 University, Sorbonne, Paris’ Institut d’Etudes Politiques

Ahmed Benchemsi (Arabic: أحمد بن شمسي‎‎) is a Moroccan journalist. He is the founder and was the publisher and editor of Tel Quel magazine.

Benchemsi attended high school in Casablanca. He spent his freshman years in Rabat’s Mohammed V University, before joining Paris 8 University, from which he received a B.A in Finance. He later received an M.A in Development Economics from the Sorbonne, and an MPhil in Political Science from Paris’ Institut d’Etudes Politiques, aka Sciences Po.

He began as a reporter and polemicist in the Moroccan weekly La Vie Economique in 1996. After briefly serving as communication advisor for a cabinet member, he was editor in chief of Téléplus magazine in 1999. After the passing of King Hassan II, he was the correspondent in Morocco for Jeune Afrique magazine. In October 2001, he founded TelQuel, a weekly news magazine of which he became the publisher and editor. Under the editorial line “Morocco As It Is”, TelQuel covers monarchy, politics, business and culture and advocates democracy, secularism and individual freedoms. Its independent, liberal stand made it since its inception a resolute critic of the Makhzen (autocratic monarchic system) as much as of the Islamists. Both strongly attacked it in return. In 2005, TelQuel became the #1 weekly in Morocco. In 2006, Benchemsi founded Nishan, the Arabic version of TelQuel, defending the same values and editorial line. In 2008, Nishan became the #1 Arabic weekly in Morocco. In October 2010, after 4 years of confrontation with the authorities (see section “legal record”) Benchemsi was forcibly driven to close Nishan, which bankrupted as a consequence of a longstanding advertising boycott campaign, orchestrated by companies close to the royal palace. In December 2010, he quit TelQuel (in order to save it from following Nishan’s path, observers said) and left Morocco to the United States. Since January 2011, he is a political science researcher in Stanford University and an op-ed writer for international outlets such as Le Monde,Time and The Guardian.