Moroccan journalist Hamid Mahdaoui said he was sentenced on Monday to 18 months in prison on a charge of defamation against justice minister Abdellatif Ouahbi.

Mahdaoui, who is also editor-in-chief of the news website Badil.info and an outspoken critic of government policies, was also fined 1.5 million dirhams ($150,000) by the court of first instance in Rabat.

Mahdaoui was sued after he accused Ouahbi of fraud, among other allegations, in a video on his website. Ouahbi has denied the accusations.

"I am innocent … I did not expect this prison sentence," Mahdaoui told Reuters, adding that he was still undecided whether to appeal against the verdict to a higher court.

"I already presented all my arguments in my defence at court," he said.

The justice minister was not immediately available for comment after the verdict.

Mahdaoui was sentenced under the penal code, instead of the press code which does not include jail terms, said Khadija Riadi of the Moroccan human rights group AMDH.

Mahdaoui was released in July 2020, after spending three years in jail on the charge of not reporting a crime against state security.