Recently in Morocco Category

From modern, moderate Morocco comes yet another example of why we don't see more sincere Muslim reformers. Ahmed Assid said: "To call [upon people] to follow Islam by the use of violence and constraint is an act of terrorism." For that, he has been condemned, declared a non-Muslim, and threatened with death.

Now wait a minute. We're constantly told that the overwhelming majority of Muslims condemn violence and terror and abhor the violence done in Islam's name. So why isn't Ahmed Assid celebrated as a hero, instead of fearing for his life?

Tiny Minority of Extremists Update: Morocco: Comments About Islam Spark Firestorm," by Mohamed Saadouni for Magharebia, May 7 (thanks to Twostellas):

Casablanca — Moroccan activist Ahmed Assid has unleashed a torrent of criticism, including a takfir fatwa from a leading salafist preacher, for making controversial comments about Islam.

During a three-day seminar at the 10th national congress of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) in Rabat, which ended on April 21st, Assid suggested that religious school textbooks lured youths to violence.

To call [upon people] to follow Islam by the use of violence and constraint is an act of terrorism," he said.

Assid should be sued for insulting the prophet and ridiculing Islam, salafist preacher Sheikh Mohammed Fizazi said during a lecture at Ibn Tofail University in Kenitra.

Yet the strongest reaction came from Sheikh Hassan Kettani, who accused Assid of kufr. In describing him as a "criminal" and "enemy of God", Kettani issued a call for "silencing his voice".

In a statement posted on Facebook, Kettani said that Assid had "crossed all lines in provoking Moroccans in particular and the ummah of Islam in general by deliberately insulting and desecrating each and every one of their sanctities".

"In his impudence, he [Assid] went as far as to claim that the Quran contains no eloquence, ridiculing and underestimating the language of Quran," Kettani's statement went on.

By this Kettani apparently means that the Qur'an teaches violence, and so Assid is ridiculing the Qur'an by rejecting violence.

Assid later defended his comments.

"The thing that attracts attention is the violent, uncivilised nature of this campaign that lacks the simplest values of dialogue and right to different opinions, and thus seeks to consolidate a culture that we don't need here in Morocco, that is the culture of confiscation, of trial, incitement and threats, et cetera," Assid told Magharebia.

"These are very negative matters that we as viable forces believing in democracy have to fight," he said. "There will always be differences, but we nevertheless must continue to engage in dialogue, debates and rapprochement,"

He said his words at the AMDH seminar were distorted and taken out of context.

"The words of anyone may not be construed so as to destroy him and incite others against him in such a serious manner," Assid said. " We have to refute arguments with arguments, which is the best option for the Moroccan experience."...

Refute arguments with arguments? I have never known an Islamic supremacist to do that. From Reza Aslan to Omid Safi to Haroon Moghul to Caner K. Dagli and all the rest of them, Islamic supremacists content themselves with smearing and insulting those whom they fear and hate. They never deal with pro-freedom advocates' arguments.

Soon it will not be acceptable in the once-free West either, if the clueless and/or complicit such as Eric Posner, Sarah Chayes, and Nathan Lean (aka "Garibaldi") get their way.

"Morocco’s Islamist prime minister warns criticism of Prophet Muhammad ‘not acceptable,’" from the Associated Press, April 28:

RABAT, Morocco — Morocco’s Islamist prime minister says it’s unacceptable to criticize the Prophet Muhammad, entering a war of words between a secular activist and hardline Salafists that has strained the balance between freedom of expression and religious sensitivities.

Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane took a not-so-veiled swipe at secular activist Ahmed Assid at a party rally late Saturday in Rabat. While not mentioning Assid by name, Benkirane said respect must be given to the overwhelmingly Muslim country’s values....

At least one Salafist leader retorted that Assid was trying to paint Muhammad as a terrorist — a claim Assid denies — and called Assid an “unbeliever,” which could be seen as an incitement to violence.

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I am confident that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz are making their way to Rabat as we speak, so as to explain to the Supreme Ulema Council of Morocco (CSO) that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Morocco Fatwa Demands Death Sentence For Christian Converts," from BosNewsLife, April 25 (thanks to Andrew Bostom):

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.

Muhammad said: "Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him" (Bukhari 9.84.57). The death penalty for apostasy is part of Islamic law according to all the schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Yet Muslim spokesmen such as Harris Zafar, Mustafa Akyol, Salam al-Marayati, M. Cherif Bassiouni, and Ali Eteraz (among many others) have assured us that Islam doesn't punish apostasy. I am confident that Zafar, Akyol, al-Marayati, Bassiouni, and Eteraz are making their way to Rabat as we speak, so as to explain to Morocco's higher council of religious scholars (CSO) that they are getting Islam all wrong, wrong, wrong.

"Morocco death for apostates fatwa sparks controversy," from AFP, April 20:

RABAT — A fatwa published this week by Morocco's higher council of religious scholars (CSO) calling for the death penalty for Muslims who renounce their faith has sparked fierce controversy in the country.

The scholars, who represent official Islam in Morocco, said in their edict, published in Tuesday's edition of Arabic-language daily Akhbar al-Youm, that Muslims who reject their faith "should be condemned to death."

The fatwa, which has provoked strong reactions, dates back to April 2012 when a legal report was being prepared by the government, but it was not published at the time, according to local media.

Mahjoub El Hiba, a senior human rights official in the government, denied in a statement to the official MAP news agency having requested any such fatwa from the council of Islamic scholars, as Akhbar al-Youm had claimed.

"What was published in the document attributed to the CSO does not concern our government and commits us to nothing," Hiba told AFP.

"I am not authorised to request advice or fatwas from the CSO. I do not have to comment on what a constitutional body like this does," he added.

The CSO is the only institution entitled to issue fatwas in Morocco.

The ministry of Islamic affairs declined to comment on the issue.

Morocco's penal code does not explicitly prohibit apostasy, which is illegal in most Muslim countries, and punishable by death in some states such as Saudi Arabia, although in practice people are rarely executed for renouncing their faith.

But Moroccan law states that "anyone attempting to undermine the faith of a Muslim or convert him to another religion" risks six months to three years in prison.

Moderates.

The same Islamic theology that led to the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan has now spread to modern, moderate Morocco -- as well as to Mali, as well as Tunisia, where AFP scratches its head and wonders what happened to the glorious "Arab Spring." "Salafists destroy ancient Morocco carvings: NGO," from AFP, October 17 (thanks to David):

RABAT — Stone carvings in Morocco's High Atlas mountains dating back more than 8,000 years and depicting the sun as a pagan divinity have been destroyed by Salafists, a local rights group said on Wednesday.

"These stone carvings of the sun are more than 8,000 years old. They were destroyed several days ago," Aboubakr Anghir, a member of the Amazigh (Berber) League for Human Rights, told AFP.

"One of the carvings, called 'the plaque of the sun,' predates the arrival of the Phoenicians in Morocco," Anghir said.

"It lies in a well-known archaeological site in the Yakour plain south of Marrakesh, 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Mount Toubkal."

"There are several Salafist groups active in the region and it's not the first time these pre-Islamic sites have been attacked. We have sent a message to the ministry of culture, but have not yet received a reply," he added.

Salafists, Muslims who adhere to a hardline Sunni interpretation of Islam similar to that practised in Saudi Arabia, which strictly prohibits "idolatry," have enjoyed a surge in strength in Arab Spring countries, benefiting from wider freedom.

Late on Monday, one of Tunisia's main Sufi mausoleums was burned down in an overnight arson attack, seemingly the latest in a spate of attacks on unorthodox Sufi shrines by the country's increasingly assertive Salafists.

In northern Mali, which is close to Morocco, radical Islamists have destroyed ancient World Heritage shrines they consider idolatrous since seizing control of the region earlier this year.

Watch for the outcry, the riots, the deaths of innocents, over the desecration of these Qur'ans...what's that? This "desecration" was done by Muslims, and so no protests will ensue? You mean Qur'an Rage is manipulative and selective? Say it ain't so!

"10 Kilos of Heroin Hidden Inside 30 Korans," by Cheradenine Zakalwe for Islam Versus Europe, July 20 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):

Some 200,000 capsules of drugs hidden inside toasties and more than ten kilos of heroin hidden inside 30 Korans were seized on Sunday by Moroccan authorities on board a vehicle preparing to leave the port of Nador for Spain.

The drugs were discovered inside the vehicle of a Moroccan mother travelling with her four children. The family was supposed to deliver the drugs to Spain on behalf of a member of their family who also lives in the Iberian peninsula.

The latter is said to have convinced them to import the drugs and to sell them in Spain, in order to resolve their financial problems. During questioning, the family said it had been strongly affected by the crisis raging in Spain since 2008, reports the info site Nador City.

The fear and hesitation of the 25-year-old son who was driving the car triggered the suspicions of the customs agents, who ordered a search of the vehicle.

Source: Bladi.net

As Pamela Geller notes, this AP story implies that the problem is being caused by "conservatives," as if "conservatives" regularly call for the death of journalists who say things they don't like. The fact that Islam has a death penalty for blasphemy, apostasy and hypocrisy, and that many Muslims take that penalty quite seriously, never appears in mainstream media coverage.

An update on this story. "Morocco Salafi clerics back death for journalist," by Aziz El Yaakoubi for the Associated Press, July 6 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — Three of Morocco's most prominent conservative clerics have publicly backed a demand that a journalist be put to death for supporting greater sexual freedom in the North African kingdom.

Mokhtar el-Ghzioui, the editor of the daily al-Ahdath al-Maghribia, publicly supported a call by a Moroccan human rights activist to decriminalize sex outside of marriage. He said in a TV interview last week he would be fine with his mother or sister having consensual sexual relations outside of wedlock.

A preacher in the far eastern city of Oujda near the Algeria border then made a YouTube video on June 28 condemning el-Ghzioui as a "dyouth" a religious term for someone who willingly lets his wife commit adultery, and called for his death.

The preacher, Abdullah Nahari, was then summoned by the local prosecutor to answer to the charge of inciting a crime.

Abou Hafs, Omar el-Heddouchi and Hassan al-Kettani, the three most prominent clerics of the ultraconservative Salafi strand of Islam in Morocco, all spoke out in support of Nahari on their Facebook pages late Thursday.

"The arrogance of the secularists has become intolerable," Kettani said. "A dyouth tells the world he would let his family sin and is then denounced by a sheikh and then it is the latter who is threatened with prison?"

The three men were imprisoned in 2003 and later implicated for inspiring a string of bombings by Islamist militants in Casablanca that killed 45 people. They were pardoned by the king in February....

Morocco, a favored destination for European tourists, is overwhelmingly Muslim and both drinking alcohol and sex outside marriage are prohibited by law. The laws are not strictly enforced, however.

Not right now they aren't, but check again in a year.

This story is not just noteworthy for the thuggish Islamic supremacist imam, but for Laghzioui's alleged anti-Islamic act: calling for individual rights. "Moroccan Imam Investigated After Calling For Journalist's Death," from Worldcrunch, July 3 (thanks to Twostellas):

OUJDA - A Moroccan court has ordered the investigation of a controversial imam, Abdellah Nhari, for inciting hatred, reports Le Soir Echos.

In a video posted on YouTube (see below), Nhari suggests that Mokhtar Laghzioui, editor-in-chief of the Arabic newspaper Al Ahdath Al Maghribia, "must be killed" in reaction to his appearance on the new pan-Arabist news channel Al Mayadeen, where he defended individual rights for Moroccan people, especially pertaining to sexual liberties.

The imam also criticizes the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), which has previously launched an appeal to legalize sexual relations outside of marriage. "These types of secular organizations are corrupt and financed by Europe and the West," Nhari said.

As AFP reported, the court in the Moroccan city of Oujda, declared Sunday that Nhari's speech is "likely to lead to crime, incitement of violence through preaching."

The weekly French-language Moroccan newspaper La Vie éco reported Tuesday that the Moroccan Union of Newspaper Editors (FMEJ) was "concerned and shocked" by the video, declaring that journalists should have the right to express their opinions within the framework of the law.

Mokhtar Laghzioui said: "I am relieved the authorities have taken this threat seriously. This is not about any one person. This is a real danger to individual freedom in Morocco."

Which is such a bastion of individual freedom as it is.

Wearing revealing clothing: haram. Assaulting a woman wearing revealing clothing, and stripping her naked in public: halal. "Rabat Salafists assault woman over dress," by Mohamed Saadouni for Magharebia, May 11 (thanks to David):

Intense debate on personal freedoms renewed recently in Morocco after a young woman wearing a short modern dress in a Rabat market was assaulted by people described as Salafists.

Witnesses told Magharebia the girl was stoned and beaten because she was wearing clothes that were too revealing in the eyes of the assailants.

Human rights and women's organisations issued statements denouncing the assault on the Moroccan girl, during which she was stripped of her clothes entirely. Young Moroccan men and women turned to Facebook and online groups to call for protection of individual freedoms in Morocco, including the group "Débardeur and I am fine."

"Though this incident appeared in the media and gained wider attention, that does not mean it is not repeated on an almost regular or semi-daily basis in all the alleys and streets of our cities. It may not end in stripping the girl of her clothing, but the verbal and physical harassment that women may experience is sometimes more heinous and horrible," said Nora Al-Fuari, an activist journalist at the Al-Sabah daily and a member of the Facebook group.

"From here came the idea of creating this page on Facebook, which we made open to everyone, including those in hijab or niqab, or the 'coarse' males who share the same vision with us. The selection of Débardeur is just a symbol, in reference to freedom—the freedom of women to wear what they want. Débardeur was mother of the 'short skirt'," she added. "In the end, the body is her body and no one has the right to confiscate it."

Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane responded to the controversy by speaking out in defence of personal liberties.

"I believe in freedom, God created us free," the prime minister said. "Who is Benkirane to tell Moroccans to shave your beards or to impose the hijab? Individual liberties are sacred and are not to be touched," he added.

Meanwhile, a Salafist supporter on the Facebook page going by the name Abu Ayyub clung to the necessity of Moroccan women to respect the requirements of Islamic dress. He contended that there was a legitimate "Sharia" dress that must be abided by.

"We must abide by the teachings of our Islamic religion, which calls on women to cover up their charms and abide by the veil imposed on Muslim women. I'm against calls for women to reveal their charms, and that must be countered firmly and with stricter protection of morality," the commenter wrote....

"They chanted: 'We will never forget you Ahmed Yassin,' naming an Islamist Palestinian Hamas leader assassinated by the Israelis in 2004."

And so they support Hamas' aim of destroying Israel. "Moroccan Islamists flex muscles in Rabat march," by Souhail Karam for Reuters, March 25:

RABAT (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of Moroccans staged a pro-Palestinian march in Rabat on Sunday in a show of force organized by an Islamist group seen as the main opposition to Morocco's monarchy. A Reuters reporter in the Moroccan capital said at least 40,000 people joined the march called by Al-Adl Wal Ihsan (Justice and Spirituality). A senior police officer put the number at 11,000 while organizers said 100,000 had turned out.

We have the real numbers here. It was eleventeen and two-thirds bazillion.

It was Al-Adl's first march since December when it pulled out of pro-democracy protests, inspired by Arab uprisings elsewhere and aimed at forcing the Arab world's longest-serving dynasty to become a constitutional monarchy.

Morocco has not had a revolution of the kind seen in Egypt, Libya or Tunisia. King Mohammed is still firmly in charge after he offered to trim his powers and allowed moderate Islamists to lead the government after their Justice and Development Party (PJD) won an election in November.

Ali Anouzla, a political analyst and editor of Lakome.com news portal, said Al-Adl sought to send a message to Moroccan authorities that they remained a force to reckoned with, even after withdrawing from the pro-democracy protest movement.

"Al-Adl's withdrawal from the February 20 Movement has tremendously reduced pressure on the PJD. With this march, Al-Adl is trying to make a comeback and sends a message to skeptics who raised doubt about its support base," Anouzla said.

While the protests of the February 20 Movement lost much of their momentum after Al-Adl's withdrawal, unrest over poverty, corruption and unemployment still erupts, sometimes violently.

Al-Adl is seen as Morocco's biggest and best-organized Islamist group. It is active mostly in universities and in helping the poor, but is banned from politics due to what is seen as its hostile rhetoric towards the monarchy.

Hassan Bennajeh, an Al-Adl wal Ihsan spokesman, said Sunday's march was to mark Land Day, when Palestinians recall 1976 protests over Israeli expropriation of Arab-owned land.

"We have always been active on issues that touch the heart of Moroccans. While we protest here in support of Palestine, members of our group continue to be persecuted and jailed by authorities for their activism on local issues," he said.

"Everybody knows that the Moroccan regime supports normalization with Israel and has helped thousands of Moroccan Jews to migrate to and populate Israel," Bennajeh added.

Morocco has been a discreet broker between Israel and Arab countries and established low-key diplomatic ties with the Jewish state in 1994. In 2000, Rabat froze ties with Israel after violence intensified in the Israeli-occupied territories.

The marchers carried Palestinian flags, balloons in the flag's black, red, white and green, and placards that read "Palestinians are resisting while Arab regimes are haggling".

They chanted: "The people want the liberation of Palestine" and "We will never forget you Ahmed Yassin", naming an Islamist Palestinian Hamas leader assassinated by the Israelis in 2004.

And at an "Islamist" demonstration...

Most of the protesters appeared to be Islamists, with women wearing headscarves and marching separately from men.

This is done because the focus in Islam is not on the rape at all, but on the shame the woman has brought to her family by her sexual immorality, even if she was forced. That shame is erased if the rapist marries her. "Moroccan girl, 16, kills herself after judge forced her to marry man who RAPED her," by Lee Moran in the Daily Mail, March 14 (thanks to David):

A Moroccan teenager killed herself after a judge forced her to marry her rapist.

The 16-year-old girl, named only as Amina, ate rat poison after a Tangier court which was supposed to be punishing her 26-year-old attacker decided that they should instead be wed.

This is because Moroccan laws exempt a rapist from punishment if he agrees to marry his victim.

Traumatised by the rape and the forced marriage, Moroccan newspaper al-Massae said she committed suicide at her husband's house.

Hafida Elbaz, director of the Women’s Solidarity Association, criticised the law and said rapists often believed they could avoid punishment by marrying their victims.

The incident throws more light on the way women are treated in Islamic countries.

Last year Afghan 21-year-old Gulnaz was jailed for 'adultery by force' after she was brutally raped by her husband's cousin.

Her attacker was jailed for seven years for the crime that left her pregnant.

A global outrage saw the President of Afghanistan personally pardoning her and releasing her from Kabul's Badam Bagh jail, with no pre-conditions.

Al-Qaeda is only the best-known brand name. They did not invent violent jihad themselves. "Morocco's problem: Freelance jihadis, not al-Qaida," by Paul Schemm for the Associated Press, October 15:

RABAT, Morocco (AP) — After years of promoting jihad in online forums, Muadh Irshad was ready to take his fervor to the real world.

"I spent beautiful years tasting hope and pain in these forums ... Today it is time for farewell," he wrote in his final post. "Jihad is the solution."

Two weeks later, on Sept. 23, Moroccan security forces raided his Casablanca apartment, allegedly finding plans to attack Jewish businessmen, French journalists and police stations. He was arrested with two accomplices. Soon afterward, a second raid in Casablanca netted another cell plotting attacks.

The two cells reflect a form of terrorism that experts say is one of the greatest dangers facing the world today: Freelance jihadism.

Morocco's vigilant internal security forces and tightly guarded borders have kept al-Qaida at bay in this North African kingdom, which attracts millions of tourists worldwide. But it hasn't stopped the lone wolves who are inspired by al-Qaida to carry out copycat attacks. As post-9/11 surveillance routinely busts up organized cells and terror networks, these self-styled jihadis are gaining more prominence around the globe.

Lone-wolf plots in Europe and the United States are increasingly the focus of international anti-terror operations. In March, a Kosovo Albanian acting alone fatally shot two American airmen in Frankfurt, Germany. And a former U.S. Army psychiatrist is the sole suspect in deadly shootings at Fort Hood, Texas in 2009.

In the Middle East, small homegrown cells have been cropping up in countries like Morocco and Egypt that don't have a strong al-Qaida presence.

In some ways Morocco's single cells are less daunting to fight than the coherent al-Qaida network in neighboring Algeria and Mauritania, an implacable, well-armed and well-funded enemy with a strategic agenda. For the most part, the amateur jihadi outfits are nipped in the bud, like the ones over the last two weeks.

However, just as in plots in the West, it can be hard to pick up on lone jihadis in tiny cells that are not part of an organization. On April 28, for example, a remote control bomb exploded in a Marrakech cafe popular with tourists, killing 17 people, mostly foreigners. [...]

The discussion rooms of militant websites provide a glimpse at the seething rage found across much of the Muslim world as would-be mujahedeen trade tips on how to strike blows against the "Crusaders and Zionists," especially if they are unable to make it to the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan on their own....

Allah guarantees Paradise to those who "kill and are killed" for him (Qur'an 9:111).

"Blast kills 14 in Marrakesh cafe," from AFP, April 28 (thanks to Block Ness):

MARRAKESH, Morocco (AFP) – A powerful blast ripped through a cafe in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh on Thursday, killing 11 foreigners and three Moroccans in what authorities suspect was the work of a suicide bomber.

"According to the information I have, it could have been perpetrated by a suicide bomber," an official in the regional governor's office told AFP.

"We found nails in one of the bodies," added the official, who was in a hospital where some of the bodies were taken.

And an interior ministry official said that indications pointed to a terror attack on the Argana cafe in the main square of Marrakesh, a favourite haunt of foreign tourists.

But there were contradictory reports on exactly how the blast occurred.

One witness who was inside the cafe but escaped unscathed said: "An individual entered, ordered an orange juice and a few minutes later blew himself up."

But another witness, quoted by several Moroccan radio stations, said the bomber dropped a suitcase and immediately walked out of the cafe....

Last January, Moroccan Interior Minister Taib Cherkaoui said 27 suspected terrorists recently arrested in the country's south had ties to Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), an Al-Qaeda-linked regional offshoot, and to Europe-based. [sic] ...

Cherkaoui then said the network had planned bank robberies in Casablanca and Rabat "to finance its terrorist actions."

And his ministry said the network was led by "a Moroccan national who is a member of AQIM and who wanted to create a rear base in the country for terror attacks."

Six "extremists." We're not told what they're being extreme about, but we can tell you they're extremely... extreme. Not "moderates." "Morocco arrests six planning terror attacks," from Agence France-Presse, December 27:

RABAT -- Moroccan authorities said Monday they recently arrested six extremists suspected of using the Internet to plan acts of sabotage involving the use of car bombs both inside and outside the country.

"Ring members developed considerable expertise in bomb-making" through the Internet and planned to "carry out acts of sabotage involving the use of car bombs," according to a statement issued by the interior ministry.

It said the suspects were targetting "some foreign interests in the kingdom as well as several key national installations and security posts."

Authorities did not say exactly when the ring was dismantled, but an official speaking on condition of anonymity said the six were arrested around December 10 in the northeastern towns of Oujda and Nador as well as in Casablanca.

He said this marked the first time a cell "specializing in terrorism via the Internet is hunted down and arrested" by Moroccan security.

And they accuse city authorities of -- horror of horrors! -- "using invitations to Israelis to attend cultural and intellectual events to normalise relations with the Jewish state." Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Morocco: "Morocco: Israeli guests at culture fest rile Islamists," from AKI, October 22 (thanks to C. Cantoni):

Rabat, 22 Oct. (AKI) - Israeli intellectuals, artists and scientists attending a series of conferences in the southern beach resort of Agadir have angered Islamists in Morocco, according to daily al-Tajdid.

The Islamists, many from the country's hardline Justice and Development party accuse Agadir's authorities of "seeking to normalise relations with Israel."

"They are using invitations to Israelis to attend cultural and intellectual events to normalise relations with the Jewish state," the Islamists said in a statement cited by al-Tajdid.

"Meanwhile, the occupation of Palestine continues and cruel crimes are carrried out by the Zionists," the statement continued....

Israeli scientist Naomi Tilzer's attendance at a cactus conference has especially rankled with the Islamists, al-Tajdid said without elaborating.

Last week, a group of Israeli athletes took part in an international meet and a Jewish singer gave a concert in Agadir.

A demand for respect: "We demand you remove the crosses off the façades of your pharmacies and to respect our religion." Islamic Tolerance Alert from modern, moderate Morocco: "Moroccan pharmacies threatened over cross symbols," by Naoufel Cherkaoui for Magharebia, August 23 (thanks to Ray):

A recent web post warned Moroccan businesses against displaying signs in the shape of the cross.

A self-proclaimed "lover of al-Qaeda and Jihad" has given Moroccan pharmacy owners one month to remove cross symbols from storefronts or else face beheading.

"In 2009, crusade France lured owners of pharmacies with financial benefits and discounts in medications in return for placing the green cross along the green crescent," said a letter published in late July by several online forums. "We demand you remove the crosses off the façades of your pharmacies and to respect our religion," the web threat continued.

"Forewarned is forearmed," the unnamed writer said. "We give you and those who work with you an interval of one month to return to your true nature and nation."

The deadline expires August 28th....

Surprising? Not at all, but newsworthy nonetheless. It is but one more example in the broader pattern of disturbing conduct by the Obama administration in its drive to gain the approval of the Muslim world at seemingly any cost.

It will not make us safer. It will not make us, or anyone else, freer.

An update on this story. "Stop preaching or get out: The king is unamused by Christians who proselytise," from The Economist, July 29 (thanks to Twostellas):

Evangelical Christians in the poor world are rarely accused of undermining public order. All the more surprising, then, that in recent months around a hundred have been deported from Morocco for just that. The Christians, mostly from the United States and Europe, have been accused of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, a crime punishable by imprisonment under Moroccan law, which protects the freedom to practise one's faith but forbids any attempt to convert others.

In accordance with Sharia.

Rules against proselytising are quite common in Muslim countries but Morocco has long enjoyed a reputation as a bastion of religious tolerance in the region. Almost all the country's 32m citizens are Sunni Muslims but churches and synagogues exist, alongside mosques, to cater for the 1% of the people who are Christian or Jewish.

Such open-mindedness presumably appealed to the Christian missionaries who ran the "Village of Hope" home for children 80km (50 miles) south of Fez, a former capital known for religion and scholarship. The 16 aid-workers had cared for abandoned children for over a decade when, in March, the Moroccan authorities sent inspectors to the orphanage, then gave the workers a few days' notice to leave the country. Witnesses reported distraught farewells between the Moroccan children and the foreigners who had acted as foster parents.

Morocco's communications minister, Khaled Naciri, said the missionaries "took advantage of the poverty of some families and targeted their young children". The aid-workers deny pumping the children with Christianity. But sympathisers say that even if they did, a few hours of preaching was a small price to pay for education and pastoral care. There have been further expulsions since then, most recently of an evangelical Spanish teacher.

"Moral rape," and "religious terrorism," the Moroccan officials called the alleged evangelization activities in the prior story linked above.

Local residents are quick to point out that it is not only Christians who have been targets; last year a similar campaign was waged against Morocco's even smaller population of Shia Muslims. But the motivation for the crackdowns is probably political more than religious. Morocco's constitution is based on the hereditary position of the king as "commander of the faithful". Any drift of Muhammad VI's subjects away from the dominant stream of moderate Sunni Islam might, his advisers fear, diminish his authority.

A false dichotomy of politics and religion, where there is clearly no such distinction here, with Islam active in its capacity as a political system claiming divine sanction.

The American branch of an evangelical organisation, Open Doors, which speaks up for persecuted Christians across the world, is backing a campaign by a Republican congressman, Frank Wolf, to press the Moroccans to be kinder to the evangelicals. Seeing that Morocco is one of America's closest Arab allies, the American administration has been notably silent.

"In April nearly 7,000 Muslim religious leaders backed the deportations by signing a document describing the work of Christians within Morocco as 'moral rape' and 'religious terrorism'."

If we had a prize for ridiculous moral equivalence, that would be hard to beat. An update on this story, in which Modern, Moderate Morocco continues to enforce Sharia's prohibition on the propagation -- or even the alleged propagation -- of non-Islamic religions. "Morocco Continues to Purge Nation of Foreign Christians," from Compass Direct News, July 1:

ISTANBUL, July 1 (CDN) -- Moroccan authorities expelled eight more foreign Christians from the country last weekend, bringing the total of deported Christians since March to 128.

Two foreign women married to Moroccan Christians were included in this third wave of deportations since March, raising concerns that local authorities intend to harass the country's small but growing Protestant community.

"They are all in fear," a source told Compass, "because this happened to people who are married."

One of the women, a Lebanese national married to a Moroccan, was diagnosed with cancer last month and is the mother of a 6-year old girl whom she was forced to leave behind.

A Spanish national, Sara Domene, 31, was also deported on Monday (June 28), according to news sources. Domene was working as a language teacher in the Western Sahara, a territory under Moroccan sovereignty.

Authorities called the foreigners to police stations across Morocco on Friday (June 25) and told them they had 48 hours to leave the country on grounds of "threatening public order."

Other nationals who were forced to leave the country over the weekend came from France, Egypt, Lebanon, Switzerland, Nigeria and Spain.

A source explained that Moroccan authorities are essentially deporting Christians for "proselytism," which is illegal in Morocco, but in order to justify the deportations they have claimed that the foreigners pose a threat to the state.

In April nearly 7,000 Muslim religious leaders backed the deportations by signing a document describing the work of Christians within Morocco as "moral rape" and "religious terrorism." The statement from the religious leaders came amid a nationwide mudslinging campaign geared to vilify Christians in Morocco for "proselytism" - widely perceived as bribing people to change their faith....

But wait! I thought all the learned analysts had assured us that Muslims who left Islam were under no threat! Isn't that right, Dr. Bassiouni? Mr. Kruse? Ms. Heagney?

"Moroccan Islamists Use Facebook to Target Christians," from Compass Direct News, June 17:

RABAT, Morocco, June 17 (CDN) -- Moroccan Christians say Muslim extremists in the country are aiding and encouraging the government to pursue them by exposing and vilifying them on social networking site Facebook.

Facebook user Gardes Maroc Maroc has posted 32 image collages featuring dozens of Christian converts, calling them "hyena evangelists" or "wolves in lamb's skins" who are trying to "shake the faith of Muslims." That terminology on the website, which is in Arabic, matches that of Morocco's anti-proselytizing law, which outlaws efforts to "shake the faith of Muslims."

The online images depict Christian converts and their families from across the country and include details about their roles and activities in churches, their personal addresses and anecdotal stories attempting to malign them.

"These are some pics of Moroccan convert hyenas," reads one image.

Since March, the Moroccan government has expelled more than 100 foreign Christians for alleged "proselytizing." Authorities failed to give Christians deportation orders or enough time to settle their affairs before they left.

Observers have called this a calculated effort to purge the historically moderate Muslim country, known for its progressive policies, of all Christian elements - both foreign and national.

Amid a national media campaign to vilify Christians in Morocco, more than 7,000 Muslim clerics signed a statement denouncing all Christian activities and calling foreign Christians' aid work "religious terrorism."

On the Facebook page, Gardes Maroc Maroc makes a particularly strident call to Moroccan authorities to investigate adoptive parents of children from the village of Ain Leuh, 50 miles south of Fez. The user claims that local Christians under orders of "foreign missionaries" were attempting to adopt the children so missionary efforts would not "go in vain."

On March 8, the Moroccan government expelled 26 Christian foreign staff members and parents working at Village of Hope in Ain Leuh.

Now efforts against national Christians have gained momentum. One image on the Facebook page challenged the Islamic Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments, saying, "Evangelist hyenas are deriding your Ministry." The page with the images claimed that Christians had rented out an apartment belonging to that government ministry.

An entire page was dedicated to a well-known Christian TV personality in the Middle East, Rashid Hmami, and his family. The user also inserted pictures of hyenas next to those of Christians, presumably to indicate their danger to the nation.

National Christians Threatened

Moroccan Christians told Compass that authorities had begun harassing them even before the forced deportations of foreigners, and that pressure from officials only intensified in March and April.

Since the deportations started in early March, it seems that authorities, extremists and society as a whole have colluded against them, local Christians said. Dozens of Christians have been called to police stations for interrogation. Many of them have been threatened and verbally abused.

"They mocked our faith," said one Moroccan Christian who requested anonymity. "They didn't talk nicely."

Authorities interrogated the convert for eight hours and followed him for three weeks in March and April, he said. During interrogation, he added, local police told him they were prepared to throw him in jail and kill him.

Another Moroccan Christian reported that a Muslim had taken him to court because of his Christian activities. Most Moroccan Christians that spoke to Compass said the attitudes of their Muslim relatives had shifted, and many have been kicked out of their homes or chosen to leave "to not create problems" for their families.

Moroccan converts meet in house churches. Some of them have stopped meeting until the pressure subsides....

Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va.), co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, said that the Moroccan government has deported nearly 50 U.S. citizens.

"In spite of this, the U.S. government has pledged $697.5 million to Morocco over the next five years through the Millennium Challenge Corporation," he said. Wolf is advocating that the United States withhold the nearly $697.5 million in aid that it has pledged to Morocco.

"It is inappropriate for American taxpayer money to go to a nation which disregards the rights of American citizens residing in Morocco and forcibly expels Americans without due process of law," he said....

Indeed.

"Morocco is an Islamic state where stages should not used to allow a person with such a degree of debauchery to perform, because we have to shield the young from such influences." "Sir Elton John Faces Down Islamic Protest to Play Morocco," by Chris Mugan for Spinner, May 19:

Sir Elton John is to headline Morocco's largest music festival, despite calls from Islamist political parties that the government should deny him entry.

Opposition politicians argue the ivory-tinkling performer would harm the image of the North African kingdom should he be allowed to perform at the Mawazine World Rhythms Festival in the country's capital, Rabat.

Despite the outcry, Sir Elton will headline the festival -- which begins on May 21 -- and brings together musicians from 50 countries. This follows news earlier this month that the openly gay artist has been banned from Egypt over remarks about Jesus, as was previously reported in Spinner....

Mustapha Ramid, from the opposition Islamist PJD party said, "Morocco is an Islamic state where stages should not used to allow a person with such a degree of debauchery to perform, because we have to shield the young from such influences."