By Mohammed Amine Qasserras

Morocco News Tribune

Kenitra, Morocco| Some sources close to the ruling party PJD said that the news of the withdrawal of the Istiqlal or Independence Party from the government coalition did not affect Benkiran so much.

The sources added that Benkirane is a strong and wise man and respects his opponents and anybody who disagrees with him, but in such time Bekiran he listens to his advisers, especially old friend Mr. Abdullah Baha.

Benkirane knows very well how to manage crises, the source added.

The same sources reported that Benkirane fully knows that Chabat, the head of Istiqlal party, will not withdraw from the government coalition because Bekirane knows who is Hamid Chabat and how he thinks.

This is a blatant conspiracy and Hamid Chabat’s move is childish, Benkirane said according to the sources.

Istiqlal party declared last Saturday the withdrawal from Benkirane government coalition for failing to enhance the economy and deal with social issues in the country.

A source from Istiqlal party indicated that King Mohammed V of Morocco has urged the Istiqlal party to go back on a decision to withdraw from the government and carry on their affairs until his coming back home from France.

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By Mourad Anouar

Morocco News Tribune

Oklahoma, U.S.A | Moroccan authorities said the two dismantled terror cells members arrested recently were planning to build a base in the mountains where they would have their own school in order to use it for inculcating children with jihadist principles.

According to the Moroccan security forces, the two terrorist cells have been dismantled Sunday in Morocco’s northern city of Nador.

The groups members arrested in northern Mediterranean city port had links with a network of extremists in northern Mali that is in charge of recruiting volunteers for jihad in Africa’s Sahel region, the Interior Minister’s statement said.

The Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a Salafi-jihadist militant group operating in North Africa’s Sahara and Sahel, is considered by many experts to be the primary transnational terror threat in North Africa and also to Europe and the United States.

The French-led mission was able to chase the jihadists with links to the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) into the desert in January after they took over key northern towns of Gao, Kidal, and Timbuktu, where they enforced their interpretation of shari’a law.

It is to note that Morocco has frequently cracked down on small extremist cells, which seem to appear from time to time.

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By Mourad Anouar

Morocco News Tribune

Oklahoma, U.S.A | Morocco’s Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Ahmed Al Tawfiq said Monday that what was issued by the High Council of Ulemas (religious scholars) on apostasy was an “opinion”not a fatwa” in a response to an oral question at the House of Representatives.

Al Tawfiq stressed that the High Council of the Ulemas is fully aware that freedom of faith in Islam is very definitive and is clearly formulated in the the Quranic verse: “There is no compulsion in religion”.

It was worth mentioning that news reports attributed a controversial Fatwa to the Morocco’s High Council of Ulemas (religious scholars), in which the latter was reported to have issued a Fatwa last month decreeing the death penalty for Moroccan Muslims who left Islam.

The High Council of Ulemas, which consists of religious Muslim scholars (Ulemas) appointed by the Ministry of religious Affairs, is considered the highest religious government institution in morocco and is led by King Mohammed VI of Morocco.

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By Samira Arabi

Morocco News Tribune

Agadir, Morocco |According to the Moroccan security forces, two terrorist cells have been dismantled Monday in Morocco’s northern city of Nador.

The groups members arrested in northern Mediterranean port of Nador, with no number of them mentioned, had links with a network of extremists in northern Mali that is in charge of recruiting volunteers for jihad in Africa’s Sahel region, the Interior Minister’s statement said.

The Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a Salafi-jihadist militant group operating in North Africa’s Sahara and Sahel, is considered by many experts to be the primary transnational terror threat in North Africa and also to Europe and the United States.

The French-led mission was able to chase the jihadists with links to the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) into the desert in January after they took over key northern towns of Gao, Kidal, and Timbuktu, where they enforced their interpretation of shari’a law.

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By Mohammed Amine Qasserras

Morocco News Tribune

Kenitra, Morocco |Some Morocco media outlets reported that a young woman from Demnat (South of Morocco) died as a result of serious health complications due to consuming a large amount of pills known in Moroccan culture as “Drdek”, which some women resort to in order to enlarge and make their buttocks bigger.

The sources stated that the victim was admitted rapidly to the emergency room in Ibn Sinna hospital in Rabat after her health condition deteriorated, but she died shortly under the influence of materials making up in the pills.

The preliminary investigations showed that the victim got these pills from a person, who is is right now wanted by the justice, is known in the area for selling these types of pillls.

It is note that a large buttock is considered a symbol of woman beauty in Morocco as well as Arab world and Africa.

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By Mourad Anouar

Morocco News Tribune

Oklahoma, U.S.A | Moroccan prime minister Abdelilah Benkirane said that it is not acceptable to criticize the Prophet Muhammad in reference to the secular activist Ahmed Assid whose words last week on the prophet caused a lot of controversy.

Prime Minister’s clear message to Assid came as the former was at a party rally late Saturday in Morocco’s capital Rabat.

Benkirane did not mention Assid by name, but he stressed that we all Moroccans should respect our country’s values and islamic symbols.

It is worth mentioning that Ahmed Assid stated in a lecture last week that Islam has become incompatible with the world system today and that the famous letter (accept Islam and you will be saved) sent by the Prophet Muhammed to the kings and heads of then-states and empires is “full of violence and terror” and “should not be taught in our schools,”

The Amazigh activist’s statements caused a wide wave of anger against him, especially in social networks where some facbookers set up a facebook group calling for “a popular trial” for him.

Muhammad Al-Fizaazi, a hardline Salafist, was one of those who called for the trial of the Moroccan Amzigh activist.

“we must file lawsuits against (such people) as the Egyptians have done recently whenever Islam is being the target of anti-religion secularists,” Al-Fizaazi said.

“I call on all Muslim lawyers to file complaints against Assid,” he added.

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By Mohammed Amine Qasserras

Morocco News Tribune

Kenitra, Morocco| Moroccan television and film director Nabil Ayouch could not participate in a press conference held last Thursday in the suburb of Sidi Moumen in Casablanca  where he was forced to leave after protesters accused him of bias in portraying the people from from this shanty corner of Morocco’s largest city as “terrorists and homosexuals” in his latest film Ya Khayl Allah (God’s horses).

The protesters accused Nabil Ayouch, who was supposed to participate Thursday evening in a Symposium aimed at announcing the organization of Sidi Moumen Equestrian festival, of tarnishing the reputation of Sidi Moumen through his film and they threatened to organize a protest march as long as Ayouch and the organizers insist on presenting the film at the symposium.

“Sidi Moumen people are not terrorists or homosexuals as the director tried to portray them in his film and the real terrorists are government officials,” One of the protesters said.

The Moroccan Association for the Arts of Filming has issued a statement pointing out that “the film Ya Khayl Allah is far from being fair in portraying the reality and the real suffering of a large segment of Sidi Moumen population,”

“The director depicted the suburb’s population as people far away from civilization, ruled by a law of their own and as they have no culture, decency or consciousness to the extent that they would have sex in a very pervert way,” the statement added.

It is noteworthy that the movie Ya Khay Alleh is adopted from the novel Nojum Sidi Moumen (Stars of Sidi Moumen), which is inspired by the terrorist events that shook Casablanca in May 16, 2003 and happened that most of the perpetrators were from this poor neighborhood.

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By Samira Arabi

Morocco News Tribune

Agadir, Morocco | A report issued by the Moroccan Ministry of Health revealed that 15% of students whose average age is 14 are facing health problems due to smoking, according to the Arabic wesbite Alarabiya.

The same source said the percentage of drug and alcohol consumption reached 8% among males and 4% among females, according to a study presented recently Najat Belarbi, director of the Center for Strategic Research.

Belarbi explained that a high portion of those who pursue their education at universities smoke and use drugs, and the number of youngsters who suffer from psychological and neurological diseases exceeded 14%, added the Alarabiya.

The Moroccan Association for the fight against smoking and drugs revealed in the last study that 13% of smokers in Morocco are under 15 years of age , which is about half a million of children in Morocco.

The association showed that about 48% of young people between 15 and 19 years old smoke, which is about one and a half million young men, while figures show that 36% of those over 20 years old are smokers.

Moroccan specialists attribute the high rates of drug abuse among youth and adolescents to the inadequacy of the laws and legislation in force with the sophisticated trafficking methods of narcotics among students.

In this context, a study released two years ago showed that 63% of smokers are victims of the pressures from their family situations, but they are aware of the health risks caused by smoking.

The latest statistics indicate that the national consumption of cigarettes amounted to 16.2 billion cigarettes in 2010, of which 14.65 billion in the market and the rest by smuggling, which constitutes 10% of the market.

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By Samira Arabi

Morocco News Tribune

Agadir, Morocco | Morocco’s main Islamist opposition group said the the country is run by a shadow government and warned that the kingdom may be seeing “an explosion” among youths due to the social and economic conditions, AFP reported this week.

In an interview with AFP, Fathallah Arsalane, spokesperson for Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan (AWI) – or Charity and Justice – told the news agency that his movement is willing to be part of Morocco’s democratic transition.

“We believe in democracy and we believe that we could become a political party but the government does not allow it,” Arsalane quoted by AFP.

The Islamist added that Benkirane’s government which was hoped to bring change in Morocco has not done anything so far since it came to power following the introduction of a new constitution.

“There is a shadow government that controls everything, and the members of the current government are nothing more than a front,” Arsalane said.

spokesperson for Al-Adl Wal-Ihsan also said that the government did not live up to its promises to improve living conditions in the country where poverty and unemployment are so widespread.

“The economic and social situation in Morocco is getting worse by the day,” said Arsalane.

It is worth mentioning that in a previous interview with the Associated Press in Feb 6, 2013, Fathallah Arsalane warned that Morocco is at serious risk of a popular revolt if the state doesn’t recognize the demands of the Arab Spring and implement real democratic reforms.

“We can’t predict when the social situation will explode, but what is certain is that all the ingredients already exist,” he added.

Al Adl wal Ihsan, when founded, was calling for the restoration of an Islamic caliphate, but over the years the group has changed its political discourse to be similar to other Moroccan Islamist parties, whose messages are based on the call for democracy and a civil state.

Al Adl wal Ihsane was founded by Cheikh Abdesslam Yassine, the charismatic leader who died at the age of 84, on 13 December 2012 and was succeeded by Mohammed Abbadi.

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By Mourad Anouar

Morocco News Tribune

Oklahoma, U.S.A | Spain said on Tuesday they arrested two persons of a Moroccan and an Algerian origins suspected of being linked to Al-Qaeda militants in Mali.

The apprehended persons are believed to have links to the terrorist organisation AQIM,” Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which is responsible for a number of attacks and kidnapping across north Africa, the ministry said.

While the interior ministry said in a statement that the two suspects, the Algerian man who is identified as Nou Mediouni, and the Moroccan man, Hassan El Jaaouani, had a “similar profile” to the ones in the Boston bombings, a judicial official confirmed that there is no evidence yet to claim the two have ties to the US attacks.

The Moroccan national was arrested in the southeastern region of Murcia and the algerian was arrested in Spain’s northern city of Zaragoza after a year-long operation with the help of French and Moroccan police, Spain’s interior ministry said.

Mediouni is believed to be recruited through an online militant forum where he was instructed to travel to a “jihadi training camp” run by AQIM in northern Mali, the same source added.

Mediouni’s planned trip to Mali to join AQIM flopped due to security measures by French and African forces.

The Algerian Jaaouani meanwhile, according to the Spanish interior minister, had also been in contact with Mali-based AQIM leaders.

In 2004, Spain was hit by one of Europe’s deadliest terrorist attacks when Twenty-one people, mostly Moroccans with links to Al-Qaeda, were behind the explosions that left 191 people dead on packed commuter trains in Madrid.

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