Roundup

Moroccan bloggers react to Nichane verdict (Magharebia.com)

Magharebia has a roundup of Moroccan bloggers' reactions to the Nichane crisis. Personally, I am close to a free speech absolutist. While I do think that there should be actions in the law for slander and libel, I do not think that any speech should be criminal. And there are no "red lines" in a free society; all subjects are open to comment, including but not limited to Islam, Judaism, Christianity, the Holocaust, the King, the President, and whichever war your country is engaged in at the moment. The cure for unacceptable ideas is not government intervention, but truth and persuasion. That's why in this country we allow Nazis to march and Klansmen to rally, however antithetical their ideas are to American values and common decency.

Sword of Damocles

Laila Lalami | Nichane: Update

Laila Lalami weighs in on the Nichane judgment, which despite being less than the penalty sought, she characterizes as a "Sword of Damocles" over the journalists' heads. One misstep, and they could be subject to jail time. As a strategy by the palace for dealing with Islamists, she deems it a failure, a strategy more likely to encourage them than not.

Better Than Expected

The Morocco Report: Nichane Journalists Given Three Year Suspended Sentence

Morocco Report appears to break the news in the English blogosphere of the sentencing of the Nichane journalists:

Nichane editor Driss Ksikes and journalist Sanae Al-Aji were each handed a three year suspended sentence today for having published an article considered "defamation to Islam."

In addition to the suspended sentence, the magazine was banned for two months and fined 80,000 Moroccan dirhams (about $9,320 USD).

Although the sentence is lighter than that sought by the prosecutor, it is a grim portent for freedom of the press when journalists are prosecuted for reprinting popular jokes.

See also Larbi (French) and the usual brisk commentary. As one commentator points out, the real battle now is to change the press law, which dictates imprisonment over expressions of opinion.

Update: Eatbees and View from Fez have further analysis; Morocco Report says that a change in the press law may be in the offing.

Nadia Has the Scoop

Nadia's Blog (French) has a scathing description of the opening of the trial of the magazine NIchane for offending public morals by reprinting popular jokes. Nadia reports that the presiding judge played a role more reminiscent of a parent scolding children than a magistrate upholding the law. Not only does her account evoke the bias in the proceeding, but it also suggests that the majesty of the law has been forsaken for popular prejudice and political games. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to understand what is going on in the Nichane affair, and brava to Nadia for her courage in reporting it!

The Impending Fate of Nichane and the Riddle of the PJD

Eatbees has a timely but grim reflection on the likely sentence awaiting Nichane journalists Sanaa El Aji and Driss Ksikes for having the temerity to publish some popular jokes that happened to mention God and the Prophet.

Eatbees also poses the following very insightful conundrum: The monarchy appears to be taking harsh measures against Nichane in order to preempt popular Islamist sentiment. The Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD), however, like all legal parties in Morocco, is subordinate to the king. So why do the monarchy and the political classes seem to be so panicked over the possibility of a PJD electoral victory? (Not that I think this would be a good thing, but thwarting it might be worse.)

A better approach, it would seem, would be to uphold the freedom of the press and basic civil liberties and allow the citizenry to vote freely for whom they prefer. A naive policy in the short run perhaps, but a wiser one in the long term.

Shipped to Morocco for Torture

The Imperial Presidency 2.0 - New York Times

The New York Times' lead editorial reiterates allegations that the Bush administration is using Morocco for "extraordinary rendition" and torture of terror suspects:

Mr. Mohamed was a target of another favorite Bush administration practice: “extraordinary rendition,” in which foreign citizens are snatched off the streets of their hometowns and secretly shipped to countries where they can be abused and tortured on behalf of the American government. Mr. Mohamed — whose name appears nowhere in either of the cases against Mr. Padilla — has said he was tortured in Morocco until he signed a confession that he conspired with Mr. Padilla. The Bush administration clearly has no intention of answering that claim, and plans to keep Mr. Mohamed in extralegal detention indefinitely.

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.

Discretion, Yes; Discrimination, No

Plane Prayers - washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post is critical of U.S. Airways for its decision to force six imams from boarding an aircraft last week after they unrolled prayer rugs and said their prayers before boarding the aircraft. The Post concludes, correctly, that "America can't become a country so locked by fear that those who unfurl a prayer rug automatically become suspects."

The Post also notes that there are reports of other suspicious behavior by the imams that may have justified expelling them from the aircraft. In cases such as this, I believe the pilot ought to have near absolute discretion to decide who boards his airplane. However, if the imams were denied passage not because of suspicious behavior but because they prayed, or were Arabs, or were Muslims, then they should sue the airline blind. Discretion, yes; discrimination, no.

Thanks to Crossroads Arabia. See also BlackProf.com.

Kings and Clerics

As Monarchy Falters, Islamism Rises - Jamai Aboubakr - PostGlobal

Aboubakr Jamai, publisher of Le Journal Hebdomadaire, has an analysis of forthcoming Moroccan legislative elections in the Washington Post. Jamai points out that while the Islamic Party of Justice and Development commands the allegiance of only a small number of voters committed to a party, it is the overwhelming choice undecided voters.

When first asked about the party they would vote for, Moroccans chose the socialist party with 13% in support. The Islamist PJD party ranked third with 9%. But more than 55% of the citizens polled claimed to be undecided. When those 55% were asked to make up their mind one way or the other, more than 66% chose the Islamist party. That gives the PJD a tremendous lead over the other parties.

Secular parties have proven to be neither honest nor efficient, according to Mr. Jamai, with the result that they are increasingly being squeezed between the all powerful monarchy and the surging Islamists. Real reform will only come with more freedom and accountability in the government.

Update: For French speakers, Larbi has a very interesting commentary on the Economist Intelligence Unit's assessment that Morocco is one of the more stringent dictatorships in the world. Larbi points out that, for good or ill, the fact that Islam is the state religion and the activities of other religions are circumscribed makes the country less "democratic" from the Western point of view of the Economist.

Missing In Action

The following story was flagged on my Google Alert for Morocco. Intrigued, I immediately clicked on the the link, only to find that Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP) had, ahem, apparently pulled the story, perhaps out of embarrassment at Morocco's low ranking. Thanks to the miracle of Google, however, the story is also available here.

Morocco ranks 123rd in UNDP HDI, report

Rabat, Nov. 15 - Morocco ranked 123rd out of 177 countries in Human Development Index (HDI), according to the 2006 Report of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Human Development.

Morocco is 8th at the level of Africa and 4th among Maghreb countries, revealed, here Tuesday, the report that was officially presented at a conference by UNDP representative, Mourad Wahba.

Each year since 1990 the UNDP report publishes a Human Development Index that looks beyond GDP at a broader definition of well-being.

The HDI provides a composite measure of three dimensions of human development: living a long and healthy life (measured by life expectancy), being educated (measured by adult literacy and enrolment at the primary, secondary and tertiary level) and having a decent standard of living (measured by purchasing power parity -PPP- and income).

Morocco lags behind Seychelles (47th rank), Libya (64th), Tunisia (87th), Algeria (102th), Cape Verde (106th), Egypt (111th) and South Africa (121st).

However, the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH), launched last year by king Mohammed VI to fight poverty and social exclusion, forecasts a clear improvement of Morocco’s ranking in the years to come, reads a summary of the UNDP report. Norway tops the HDI while Niger brings up the rear.

Last modification 11/16/2006 09:17 AM.
©MAP-All right reserve

The full report is online.

Bold Move or Empty Gesture?

13 Nations Meet on Nuclear Containment - New York Times

Morocco has joined 12 other nations, including the United States, in signing an agreement to cooperate in keeping nuclear materials out of tthe hands of terrorists:

The initiative aims to provide guidelines for keeping track of radioactive materials, ensuring the safety of nuclear facilities, and combating illicit trafficking that could deliver nuclear materials into the hands of terrorists.

I am guessing that Morocco's presence on the list of nations signing the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism has as much to do with its recent concerns over domestic terrorism as with its specific concerns over nuclear proliferation. Nevertheless, it is encouraging to see Morocco taking a laudable stand on this issue. Whether there is any substance to the initiative — particularly in light of participants Russia, China, and the United States' differences over North Korea and Iran — remains to be seen.

Hackers Busted for Hitting States

Morocco Jails Two for Disrupting U.S. Computers - New York Times

The New York Times reports that Morocco has jailed two hackers for unleashing worms on the United States:

RABAT ( Reuters) - A Moroccan court on Tuesday jailed two men for one and two years for unleashing computer worms that disrupted networks across the United States, court officials and lawyers said.

My question is, does this say something positive about the current level of technical and scientific education in Morrocco? Arguably only a society that is truly computer literate produces hackers.

Missing in Turin

I was disappointed to see that while Algeria is fielding a team at the winter Olympics, there is no team from Morocco.