AVOID MUSLIM MOROCCO
Police Arrest
Moroccan Actor Rafik Boubker For Blasphemy Against
Islam
The actor is
the subject of an investigation after mocking the constituents of Islam in a
video shared widely on social media.
Morocco World
News
May 26, 2020
Rabat – Police
have opened a preliminary investigation into the criminal acts attributed to
the Moroccan actor, Rafik Boubker, after placing him
in custody this evening. The procedure follows the decision of the public
prosecutor of Casablanca’s Court of First Instance.
The General
Directorate for National Security (DGSN) said in a statement that it had
“monitored digital content published on social media, in which the suspect
appears in an abnormal condition, insulting the Islamic religion and violating
the reverence for acts of worship.”
The DGSN added
that it has received several complaints from citizens on the matter which
prompted them to open a judicial investigation. Security services aim to
uncover the full circumstances of the criminal act and identify those involved
in recording and sharing the video.
“We are at the
mosque since bars are closed because of the lockdown. The bar of the mosque,”
said Boubker in the video.
He then
mockingly told people “to make their ablution with wine and perform prayers
with whiskey.”
The video, in
which he is clearly drunk and accompanied by several friends, went viral on
social media and stirred backlash among internet users.
Displeased by
the content, internet users, who lashed out at the actor, called to arrest him
and bring him before prosecutors for justice.
Boubker rapidly responded to the criticism he
provoked by posting another video in which he apologizes for his self-declared
wrongful statements.
In the video, Boubker extended his apologies to the public while
admitting that he was not aware of the gravity of his remarks nor the
controversy it would create, explaining his actions by saying he was under the
influence of alcohol.
The actor
emphasized that he did not renounce his religion and will always be a Muslim.
Swiss man arrested over
links to alleged killers of Scandinavian tourists in Morocco
Investigators claim he 'indoctrinated' group suspected of the murders
Peter
Stubley
Sunday
30 December 2018
Independent
A
Swiss national has been arrested in connection with the murders of two
Scandinavian women hiking in Morocco.
The man, who has not been named, was allegedly
associated with the killers and taught them archery and social media skills,
according to the Central Bureau for Judicial Investigations (BCIJ).
He is
the 20th suspect to be arrested by investigators following the discovery of the
bodies of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from
Denmark, and Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway, in the
Atlas Mountains on 17 December.
The
four main suspects reportedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State in a video
made three days earlier.
However
police spokesman Boubker Sabik
has described the killers as “lone wolves” and claimed “the crime was not
coordinated with Islamic State”.
The latest suspect held both Swiss and Spanish nationality and was resident in
Morocco.
He is
also accused of “involvement in recruiting Moroccan and sub-Saharan nationals
to carry out terrorist plots in Morocco against foreign targets and security
forces in order to take hold of their service weapons”.
The
remains of Ms Jespersen and Ms
Ueland were found by French tourists in a tent at a
campsite near Mount Toubkal, the highest peak in the Atlas Mountains. They were
reportedly on a month-long hiking trip.
“I’m
going to Morocco in December,” Ms Jespersen wrote on
her Facebook page 21 November. “Any of you guys who’s around by then, or any
mountain friends who knows something about Mount Toubkal?”
Despite
producing a large contingent of Isis recruits, terrorist attacks are relatively
rare in Morocco, a struggling kingdom of 36 million people dependent on
remittances from immigrants in Western Europe, tourism, phosphate exports and
European investment.
Tourists HACKED WITH KNIVES in gory attack at popular British holiday
destination
EUROPEAN tourists have been horrifically attacked in broad daylight on a
holiday in Morocco by men wielding knives when a sight-seeing tour turned to
terror.
By OLI SMITH
Nov
5, 2015
Express
The unsuspecting tourists were attacked on the street in the city of Fez - a
popular destination for British holidaymakers and often referred to as the
country’s cultural capital.
Graphic footage of the unprovoked attack's aftermath reveals the badly injured
victims in desperate need of hospital care.
The footage also shows blood gushing from one of the victims' head.
A large bread knife is seen on the ground alongside huge pools of blood all
over the cobbled streets.
The German trio, two men and one woman, had been visiting the neighbourhood of Talaa Lakbira, a popular area among foreigners, when they were
attacked.
The three victims were quickly rushed to Fez University Hospital where they are
believed to be in a stable condition.
Two young men aged 21 and 25 were arrested on site after locals detained them
running from the attack.
It is not yet known what prompted the assault but a police investigation is
already underway.
Locals allege that the two men ingested Karkoubi, a
psychedelic drug that has been known to spark extreme aggression and even
psychotic episodes that can cause permanent brain damage.
The drug is becoming one of the country's biggest problems with children as
young as 11 known to take it.
The news of the attack has also sparked fears for the safety of tourists
visiting the North African country.
The threat from Islamic State (ISIS) continues to send shock waves in region
with neighbouring countries like Egypt and Tunisia
suffering a number of terror incidents.
Just yesterday, the Foreign Office issued an update of British travel
destinations at risk of terror attack.
However, on the map even Spain was labelled as a higher risk of a terror attack
than Morocco, which was given a 'general risk' status.
While this attack has not been linked to militants or Islamic fundamentalists, Morroco have already arrested 14 terror suspects in raids
since August.
There is growing concern surrounding “lone wolf” attacks with a rising number
of Moroccans sympathetic to international terrorist organisations
operating in the Middle East.
Fez itself has been plagued by shocking levels of crime in recent years, with
more than 2,500 criminals arrested in the city between September 15 and October
5 this year.
According to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) around 500,000
British nationals visit Morocco every year.
Tourism is hugely vital for Morocco's economy and the country is generally
considered safe.
But, the FCO advises tourists remain "vigilant at this time."
Morocco Fatwa Demands Death Sentence For Christian Converts
Thursday, April 25, 2013
BosNewsLife Africa Service
RABAT,MOROCCO (BosNewsLife)--
Christian converts in Morocco feared for their future Thursday, April 25, after
the country's highest Islamic institute issued a fatwa demanding the death
penalty for Muslims who renounce their religion.
The Supreme Ulema Council of Morocco (CSO), a body of Islamic scholars headed
by King Mohammed VI, said that Muslims who reject their faith "should be
condemned to death." CSO is the only institution entitled to issue
'fatwas', or religious decrees, in Morocco.
The ministry of Islamic affairs declined to comment on the issue.
The fatwa dates back to April 2012 when a legal report was prepared by the
government, but it wasn't published at the time, according to local media.
Mahjoub El Hiba, a senior human rights official in
the Moroccan government, denied to reporters that the government received a
fatwa on "apostasy" -- the word used for abandoning Islam -- as the
Arabic-language daily Akhbar al-Youm
had claimed.
CRACKDOWN FEARED
The different statements could not be immediately reconciled, but local
Christians expressed concern about the situation, saying it could lead to a new
crackdown on the country's tiny Christian community of some 22,000 people.
"There's a lot of confusion and discussion in Morocco right now about the
fatwa," said a pastor near the city of Marrakech in a statement
distributed by advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC). "We
fear that if the fatwa is approved, the government will use it to harass us and
even arrest us during our meetings," the church leader added, speaking on
condition of anonymity.
"The [Islamic] fundamentalists will have an excuse to harm us," the
pastor reportedly said.
ICC Regional Manager for the Middle East, Aidan Clay, agrees that the fatwa
adds to concern about the position of Christians in the Islamic nation of over
32 million people.
INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS
"The Moroccan government lost credibility among international human rights
groups in 2010 when it deported more than 70 foreign Christian aid workers on
charges of proselytizing without granting due process rights to a
hearing," he told BosNewsLife.
In total, Morocco expelled as many as 100 foreign Christians since 2010, because
they allegedly tried to convert Muslims, according to BosNewsLife
estimates.
Islamic extremism is the main "source of persecution" in Morocco,
said Christian advocacy group Open Doors.
Among those already detained is 49-year-old Jamaa Ait Bakrim, an outspoken
Christian convert, who was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 2005 for
"proselytizing" and destroying "the goods of others" after
burning two defunct utility poles located in front of his own business in south
Morocco.
MOROCCO LEGISLATION
Open Doors quoted activists and Moroccan Christians as saying that the severity
of his sentence for a "misdemeanor" underscores Morocco's attempt him
behind bars as long as possible "because he persistently spoke about his
faith."
While apostasy is illegal in many Muslim countries and punishable by death in
Saudi Arabia, Moroccan law so far does not directly prohibit it, according to
experts familiar with the legislation.
Article 220 of Morocco's Penal Code does state, however, that "attempting
to undermine the faith of a Muslim or convert him to another religion" is
punishable with six months to three years in prison. It was not immediately
clear when and if the reported fatwa issuing a death sentence will become part
of new legislation.
"We urge the Moroccan government to safeguard the religious freedoms of
all Moroccans and to reject edicts that would constitute a breach of the
country's international human rights obligations," Clay said.
Morocco Says Terrorism Behind Blast That Killed
15
April
28, 2011
Voice
of America
Morocco says terrorists were behind a bombing
that killed at least 15 people in a popular square in Marrakech.
Government spokesman Khalid Naciri says it is too
early to say what group might be involved in Thursday's attack, which left at
least 20 other people wounded.
Officials say about 10 of the people killed in the blast at a cafe were
foreigners. Some officials and witnesses say it appears a suicide bomber may
have caused the explosion.
The blast tore the facade off the two-story cafe in Jemaa
el-Fna square in the heart of Marrakech's old city,
which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Morocco's King Mohammed has ordered a speedy investigation into the
attack. In a statement, he also expressed condolences to the victims.
Morocco was rocked by a series of Islamic extremist attacks in 2003 that left
45 people dead, including 12 suicide bombers.
"Islamic Education
Downgrading" Stirs Furor in Morocco
By Al-Amin Andalusi, & Mariam AL-Tigy,
IOL Correspondents
RABAT, June 24, 2005
(IslamOnline.net) – Calls by Moroccan education officials to downgrade or
remove the Islamic studies subjects from high school curricula have sparked
furor in the North African country, with Moroccan dignitaries believing the
calls are a sign of caving in to foreign pressures to “modify” the education
curricula in the Muslim world.
The Moroccan education
ministry has called for abolishing the Islamic studies subjects from the
science section of high school syllabus and limiting the teaching of the
Islamic studies subjects in the literary studies' section.
The ministry officials
also pressed for removing any references to “jihad” in the Islamic subjects.
“The malicious calls to
remove the Islamic studies subjects would not be welcomed in the Moroccan
education process,” Khalid Al-Samadei, head of the
Islamic studies department, has said.
Samadie, who is also chairman
of the Moroccan center for the pedagogical studies and research, stressed that
these calls would not gain ground in the Moroccan society that sticks to the
Islamic teachings and respects all aspects of openness and co-existence.
“What is happening is
the result of the media misconception on Islam and defamation of the Islamic
tenets, propagated by different parties that work to fulfill their malicious
schemes by fueling such a misconception,” he told the Attajdid
daily Web site.
Strict Reviewing
Abdul Kareem Al-Howeshri, chairman of the Moroccan committee for Islamic
subject teachers, echoed a similar stance.
“Over the past few
years, all lessons related to jihad have been silently taken out from the
Islamic studies subjects,” said Howeshri, who is an
MP for the justice and development party.
“The Moroccan education
process has been under a strict reviewing process, not mainly targeting to
remove issues related to jihad, but to limit the teaching of the Islamic
studies subjects in general in order to avoid drawing popular outrage.”
Howeshri accused groups calling
for equality between male and female of championing the calls to abolish the
Islamic studies subjects from the Moroccan education.
“A committee was set up
to review the school textbooks and remove whatever runs counter to the concept
of gender equality.”
“The committee has even
declined to include lessons on hijab under claims that such lessons are a sort
of dress discrimination between the two sexes.”
In parallel, new
lessons promoting the concepts of tolerance, peace and acceptance of the other
have been added into the Islamic studies subjects, he added.
“White Book”
Abdul Salam Al-Ahmar,
member of the Moroccan committee for the Islamic subject teachers, agreed.
“Such calls are a
violation of the national education charter and the “White Book” stipulating an
education that helps build an independent charter for the Moroccan students
based on full knowledge of their religion, heritage and history.”
A reviewing of the
education curricula and textbooks in Morocco was launched in 2000, which
resulted in what is known as the “White Book”.
Al-Ahmar urged “a
respect and best use of the terms of the “White Book” on which the state has
spent much money and effort.
Question
Last week, Justice and
Development Party submitted an interpellation to parliament, interrogating the
education minister on the issue.
Lawmaker Howeshri said such efforts to limit or remove the teaching
of the Islamic studies subject run counter to King Mohamed VI’s instructions on
giving priority to the Islamic studies to help protect Moroccans against
extremism.
The Moroccan minister,
however, declined to give a clear-cut answer on the issue, describing the
Islamic studies subjects as playing the lead role in enhancing the identity of
the Moroccan people.
Opponents of moves to
remove or limit the teaching of the Islamic studies subjects have been stepping
up their opposition to prevent any such decisions from seeing light, according
to IslamOnline.net Correspondent.
The ongoing controversy
comes a year after Moroccan King Mohamed VI called for developing the Islamic
studies curricula to protect the Moroccan youth against extremism.