Hans Rustad Redaktøren og en journalist i det marokkanske bladet Nichane ble mandag dømt for å ha krenket islam. Bladet hadde en lengre story om marokkansk humor. Det likte ikke islamistene, og regjeringen grep inn.
The court in Casablanca handed down three-year suspended sentences to Driss Ksikes, editor of Nichane, and to journalist Sanaa al-Aji, court officials said. Both were barred from any journalistic activity for two months and the independent Arabic-language magazine was suspended for two months. They were fined 80,000 dirhams (€7,200; US$9,280) each.
The sentence was milder than the three to five years in prison that prosecutors had requested.
…
Prime Minister Driss Jettou ordered Nichane banned on Dec. 20 in response to complaints posted on an Islamist Web site, Khorafa.org, and from the Kuwaiti government about the article. Ksikes and al-Aji were swiftly tried for insulting Islam, a crime in Morocco.
Editor, journalist in Morocco convicted and fined for insulting Islam
Selv om dommen ligger langt unna påstanden om tre til fem års fengsel, er den likevel streng nok til å sende et tydelig signal om hvor grensen går. Den skal avskrekke, og mange frykter at utviklingen nå går i revers.
LA Times har en gjennomgang av utviklingen:
Driss Ksikes is the editor of Nichane, a weekly magazine published in Morocco’s local drija Arabic dialect. The magazine’s name means «direct,» and it launched in September with a goal of bringing a fresh perspective to a country emerging from decades of brutal civil rights repression under King Hassan II, who died in 1999.
In a special edition of Nichane in early December, Ksikes published an insightful cover story by up-and-coming writer Sanae Al Aji on humor in Morocco. The piece, titled, «How Moroccans Laugh at Religion, Sex and Politics,» cataloged popular Moroccan jokes and invited social critics to analyze the punchlines. As humor typically touches on social taboos, the article discussed jokes mocking the king, Islamist imams and attitudes toward women.
This is an election year in Morocco, and both the monarchy and the opposition Islamist parties seized on the opportunity to make an example of Nichane. Islamist websites branded the magazine worse than any Danish publication, and the editors got death threats. Prime Minister Driss Jettou issued an injunction banning it from newsstands and shutting its website. Declaring the magazine a threat to the «fundamental values of Moroccan society,» prosecutors have now put Ksikes and Al Aji on trial in a Casablanca court for «damaging the Islamic religion, lacking proper respect for the king and publishing of writings contrary to public morals.» A verdict is expected today.
Morocco had been a symbol of hope for reform in the Mideast in recent years. King Mohammed VI’s father stifled public discourse and tortured opponents for decades, but the new ruler has enhanced civil liberties, particularly for women. That Al Aji has become the first female reporter to face prison time in Morocco is a perverse sign of progress in gender equality.
Still, the door opened to a more vibrant public discourse. In 2005, Nichane’s parent publication — the French weekly TelQuel, aimed at the country’s Francophone elite — ran a cover expose on the king’s salary. Other TelQuel issues explored homosexuality and drug use in Morocco. The country got its first journalism school, and many of its top graduates work for Nichane. Now that staff is waiting to hear the verdict and learn the fate of the magazine.
The banning of Nichane and the sentences hanging over Ksikes and Al Aji painfully illustrate the fragility of newfound freedoms. Across North Africa and the Middle East, dictators and Islamist political forces have been emboldened. The movement toward greater freedom that seemed unstoppable a few years ago is now being smothered.
