Taroudant- Saad El Othmani, former Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, was victim of plagiarism on the part of a university teacher in Algeria.
According to Attajdid, the Arabic media outlet of the Movement of Unity and Reform, El Othmani said that some teachers and researchers in Algeria have copied pages of his book "The Behavior of the Prophet vis-à-vis the Imamate" (book published in Arabic) without citing the original source.
The same source added that the former minister contacted the president of the University of Algiers 1-Benyoucef Benkhedda about this immorality, providing evidence of plagiarism of some parts of his book in a research published in the archives of the university.
El Othmani said that Bouabdellah Benatia, assistant professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Hassiba Benbouali in Chlef, copied several parts of his book in addition to most definitions of some concepts.
On its part, the University has confirmed the plagiarism and apologized to Mr. El Othmani, saying that this is “a defective act that does not honor any academic researcher”
In a written response, the university said that it wrote to the Ministry of Higher Education in order to take all legal procedures against this teacher. The university demanded the application of deterrent penalties, including the cancellation of all awards and promotions of the said teacher, noting that those penalties may amount to the expulsion from the university.