Seventeen arrested in Morocco for evangelising
In Saïdya on Friday, Oujda police arrested seventeen people, including foreigners, for holding an unauthorized public meeting aiming at spreading evangelism among the locals.
The police intervention, which is in accordance with the Moroccan laws, came following information on dubious actions related to evangelistic proselytizing.
An interior Ministry statement named the foreigners as two South African missionaries, a Guatemalan nabbed during this operation. The statement said that another Swiss man was arrested in Oujda along with two Moroccans.
Proselytizing materials, including books and CDs, were found while searching various premises. The arrested foreigners will be expelled after closing the probe, in conformity with the law related to the entry and stay of foreigners in Morocco.
A/H1N1 kills two people in Morocco
According to the Health Ministry, two people with chronic respiratory and heart conditions died in Casablanca and Khouribga from A/H1N1 virus.
Medical tests showed that the two people had contracted the swine flu virus. Sixty-nine new H1N1 cases were documented on Friday, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 2,044, 872 out of which in schools.
Meanwhile, the Moroccan authorities are continuing a high level campaign in the media to publicise the issue and to give preventative advice.
Meanwhile, in the Medina...
The most intriguing news at the moment surrounds two local identities - Absellam the barber and Thami of Thami's Restaurant fame.
Absellam outside his closed shop
Absellam tells The View from Fez that he has closed his business and that he is going to open a restaurant. A restaurant, right beside Thami's. Now either this is a very good move and he and Thami can work in partnership or Thamis is going to make some changes. It appears he has already lost one of his two tables and in economic terms, that has to hurt. Yet there appears to be no animosity between the men and hopefully this will continue.
Absellam - in the old days.
Music in the Medina.
Whispers from the French Institute in Morocco tell us that a group called "Ludwig" are playing classical music at Dar Batha on Monday night starting at 1900hr. 20 dirhams to get in and 10 dirhams for students. It should be good as the whispers speak of cello and violin works by Ravel and others. Enjoy.
1 comment:
Concerning the expulsions of foreigners, this raises worrying questions for all foreigners in Morocco. What are their rights? In this case in Oujda, there was no trial, no evidence presented to a judge, no defence lawyer. The arrests were on Friday and the article appeared in newspapers on Saturday. No time for a fair trial of any kind. It would be good if View From Fez could investigate the rights of foreigners resident here (reagdless of what they are accused of)
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