No Jokes Please, We're Muslims

Le Monde.fr : Maroc: Diffusion interdite d'un hebdomadaire pour atteinte à l'islam

The Palace Crackdown

Le Monde reports that the Moroccan government has taken a step away from free speech by confiscating an issue of the magazine Nichane ("Straight") for having the temerity to print jokes about "religion, sex, and politics." Most particularly, the Palace deemed the publication to have launched an "attack against Islam" and to have published writings contrary to "public morale and morals." The royal prosecutor has launched an investigation into the publisher and the journalist Sanaa Al Aji.

The American Contrast

Regardless of what idiots like Newt Gingrich believe, the First Amendment is the essential linchpin of American Democracy. Central to the First Amendment are the ideas that the government will not restrict freedom of expression and that the government will not support one religion over another. Obviously, I have not seen the jokes in question, but even if they were of the most extreme and inflammatory sort, they could be published in America without prior restraint. (Even in this dark age, jokes in print are unlikely to be considered "incitement" outside of First Amendment protection.) In this sense, unlike so many others, alas, America is a beacon to the world, and Morocco will not be a true democracy until it adopts similar principles. After all that Islam has survived, it will survive a few jokes.

The Erosion of the American Example

Of course, in the Age of Bush, nothing is straightforward. Now that prosecutors are subpoenaing journalists in the Plame affair, threatening them with prosecution in the AIPAC scandal, and otherwise making noises about prosecuting journalists if they are in receipt of "state secrets, the bloom may be off the First Amendment rose even in America.

Whistling Past the Graveyard

Interview With Condoleezza Rice - washingtonpost.com

Condoleezza Rice may be whistling past the graveyard, but she has encouraging words for reform and liberalization in Morocco.

But I think if you go to the Forum for the Future and you see these non-governmental organizations gathered together and being able to sit across the table from the most conservative Arab states like Saudi Arabia all the way out to reforming states like the states of the Gulf and Jordan, it's quite an achievement and I can list the achievements: they have women voting in Kuwait, the beginning of municipal elections in Saudi Arabia; but also if you look at places like Bahrain and Oman and Morocco and Jordan, the reform agenda is alive and well. And what will we say to those people who have staked their future on reform and democracy if somehow this word disappears from American foreign policy? And so to me this is at the core.

I actually agree that the United States should support democracy. I do not think we can do this through secret government, intimidation of the press, invasions, torture, clandestine imprisonments, suspension of habeas corpus, military show trials, and removing jurisdiction from courts. In addition, given the stark realities of the situation in Iraq, which Rice largely seems to play down, it seems hard to believe that the administration of which she is a part will somehow experience a revelation and begin to provide wise leadership on the Israeli-Palestinian issue or even on reform in Morocco.

Hate Wave Hits Campus

Yale Daily News - Anti-Muslim posters shatter cultural illusions

Yale junior Altaf Saadi reacts to caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad on the Yale Campus.

But the feelings of safety and comfort evaded me on the morning of Nov. 15, when, walking out of class, I was greeted by a hurried collage of blatantly racist, bigoted caricatures of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It seemed, in those two seconds in which my mind went from the conjugation of the subjunctive in Espanol to the absolute shock of realizing that the tidal wave of anti-Muslim sentiment had hit home, that I was alone in a campus of thousands. Was this really happening? At Yale? Do I really live among and attend classes with students who think this? That a place as forward thinking as Yale would harbor such inconspicuously racist attitudes was appalling to me.

Saadi criticizes the posters not only for misrepresenting the Prophet, but also for their anonymous posting. In a refreshing reaction to the posting, the Muslim Students Association, which Saadi says stressses openness and inclusiveness on compus, is sponsoring an open forum to discuss the posters. Clearly, Saadi recognizes the fundamental truth that the answer to offensive speech is not suppresssion or censorship but more speech. And yes, I think the Daily News should have run a picture of the offending posters so that its readings could (a) see what kind of material was being posted on their campus, and (b) judge for themselves the degree of its offensiveness.

Bush Defends Press Freedom

Bush Shifts on Muslim Protests

A few hours earlier, at a White House ceremony with Jordan's King Abdullah, President Bush rejected the violence but not the cartoons that incited bloody protests from Afghanistan to Denmark, where the drawings first appeared. "We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed in a free press," Bush said.

Moroccan Blogs

I have belatedly discovered that Tel Quel magazine published in February an article (fr) describing the nascent Moroccan blogging phenomenon as a sign of the liberalization of Moroccan society, but also lamenting the lack of such internationally known blogging figures as Salam Pax, who blogged the Gulf War. Rachid Jankari, who is featured in the article, has a colloquy (fr) critiquing it, as well as extensive commentary on Moroccan blogging in general.

Death by Law

MoorishGirl points to the likely shutdown of Tel Quel magazine as a result of a satirical article that has resulted in a massive libel judgment with a striking lack of due process. The on-line petition on behalf of the magazine translates roughly as follows:

As a result of an expedited defamation lawsuit, the president of Tel Quel Ahmed R. Benchemsi and his news chief Karim Boukhari were sentenced, without their lawyer even having a chance to speak, to two months suspended sentence in prison, and a fine of 1,050,000 DH. The two journalists have appealed.

The prison sentence and exorbitant fine constitute, without doubt, a "warning" from the powers that be with respect to Tel Quel, which is being "punished" for its editorial independence. This tactic inaugurates a new method for muzzling the press: strangle it gradually by disproportionate fines, imposed through sham trials. Today Tel Quel, tomorrow the entire Moroccan free press is threatened.

The undersigned strongly denounce any attack, even indirect, on freedom of the press, and demand justice for Tel Quel in an appeal that is fair and transparent.

Pardon for the Press

MoorishGirl

"I just heard that Ali Lamrabet was pardoned today, along with several other journalists. I would have preferred for the courts to rectify his situation rather than the king, but at this point I'm too thrilled by the news of his release to be cynical."

Dying of Laughter

Mourir de rire

This is a rough translation of the comments of jailed journalist Ali Mrabet, who is on a hunger strike after having been sentenced to three years in prison, from Mohcen Blog.

"I am laughing under a cloak, pardon me, a curtain: I am in a hospital bed -- .. I laugh when I remember the tone of the prosecutor when he asked that I be given the maximum sentence. 'Lmrabet should feel the full weight of the law because he has committed a crime of extreme gravity. . .' It's true. What I did was very serious. I criminally mocked our good old regime. I ridiculed in an irresponsible manner our hypocritical culture and the opportunists in our ruling class. . .
"I am guilty of introducing satire and humorous journalism into a society that needs them badly. A society that has grown tired of bemoaning its misfortunes and which found in my paper a chance to revenge itself against the ruling class. By laughing. Not by throwing a bomb or injuring someone.

"This regime does not accept humor as a form of peaceful expression; it has made the monumental mistake of believering that two joyful, satirical publications are actually an opposition political party . . . a party of laughter and progress. A popular party that will undermine their position.

" . . There it is! I cannot go any farther because my body is calling me to account. The state of my body is no joke. It is telling me that I cannot make a long physical effort. . .

". . . As long as I am conscious, I will prevent the regime from turning me into an example in order to crush the Moroccan press. I will continue to laugh at those who have sent me to jail because they think that I am a political party. [from Le Monde]"

Four Journalists Held for More Than 10 Days, Face Prison Terms

Four Journalists Held for More Than 10 Days, Face Prison Terms "RSF has urged the authorities to explain why they are holding four journalists who were originally detained under ananti-terrorism law, but reportedly will now be prosecuted under thepress law and face prison terms."


 

The crackdown on reporters is a disturbing turn of events in a regime that has been generally credited with being more liberal than that of the current king's father, Hassan II.

The Bitter Price of Speaking Truth to Power

Zawya.com | arab business and finance

A Moroccan appeals court on Tuesday sentenced journalist Ali Lmrabet to three years in jail and backed a previous court order shutting down his two satirical publications on charges of insulting the king, judicial sources said.

Lmrabet, who has been on a hunger strike since May 6, was originally sentenced to a four-year prison term almost a month ago for insulting King Mohammed VI and offending the monarchy and Morocco's territorial integrity.