|
After expelling foreigners for proselytising, Morocco defends religious freedom record
[Maghrebia] Moroccan Communication Minister and government spokesman Khalid Naciri on Thursday (March 11th) discussed the deportation this week of some twenty foreigners. The British, Dutch, American and New Zealand nationals, who worked at an orphanage near the Atlas mountain town of Ain Leuh, were expelled on Tuesday for allegedly trying to convert the children.Naciri said that such "rare cases" of expulsion from the country are not linked to the practice of the Christian religion but rather to acts of proselytism", adding that "the same severity was used against the fundamentalist Muslims of the Salafia Jihadia group or against the over 100 Qur'anic schools contrary to dominant Muslim practice". The Catholic Archbishop of Rabat and the head of the Evangelical Church in Morocco released a joint statement about the incident, saying that they "have always been able to act within the framework of the freedom of worship attributed to Christian foreigners", For his part, the president of the Rabbinical chamber of the Casablanca court on Wednesday stated that "all religions, Muslim, Jewish and Christian, are practiced without constraints or limits". In related news, MAP reported that according to the 2009 Report on Human Rights Practices, released Thursday by the US Department of State, Morocco "supported and facilitated religious activities" of its 4,000--member Jewish community. Posted by: Fred 2010-03-13 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=292473 |