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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| Moroccan Journalists Tried for Defaming Islam |
| 2007-01-08 |
| Two Moroccan journalists have been charged with defaming Islam™ and damaging public morality in an article about religious jokes. Their trial begins today (Monday) and if found guilty, they would face up to five years in jail. Idris Ksikes, manager of Nichane magazine, and Sana Al-'Aji, a reporter at the magazine, on December 9, 2006, published an article about Moroccan jokes in the realms of religion, sex and politics. The Working Group on Press and Free Expression in North Africa (WGFENA) has demanded that the trial be halted. "The trial against the journalists and the shutting down of their newspaper… go against the freedom of speech," said a statement from the group. "The matter at hand is between the newspaper and its readers… not between the newspaper and the law," the group added. The Moroccan authorities closed the magazine and withdrew copies from the stands following the publication of the controversial article. Ksikes and Al-'Aji have received death threats, the BBC online Website reported. They said they were not trying to make fun of religion, but merely to examine Moroccan society by reviewing its popular jokes. |
| Posted by:anonymous5089 |
| #1 And the sound of crickets from "the left" is deafening. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-01-08 14:30 |