It’s regrettable to note how the Christian minorities in Morocco, a North African country are suffering persecution in the hands of the authorities as a result of their Christian faith.
This is contained in a report by the International Christian Concern (ICC’s) www.persecution.org Advocacy Officer, Logan Maurer who said that one Jamaa Ait Bakrim is currently imprisoned for “proselytizing,” a charge punishable under Moroccan law.
He noted that Jamaa Ait Bakrim, prisoner number 26574, is currently in Prison Centrale, located in Kenitra, Morocco and that he has been there since 2005 when he was sentenced to 15 years for “proselytism” and “destruction of the goods of others.”
Maurer stated: “This second charge is a common legal tactic of creating a separate infraction to lengthen the sentence and shift attention from the actual issue of religion.”
He said that the charge of proselytization is derived from Article 220 of Moroccan Criminal Law which makes it illegal to “shake the faith of a Muslim” adding that the charge of ‘proselytization’ is a specific concern because the wide range of applications that are used to suppress other religions. “This is the same official charge that has led to the deportation of many foreigners from Morocco in the past three months.”
Maurer recounted that in 1993 Jamaa returned to his Moroccan village after a trip to Europe where he converted to Christianity and that in 1994 he spent seven months in the mental hospital of Inezgane for proselytizing.
“In 1996 he was condemned to one year, this time in jail, for putting up a Christian cross in public. In 2001 he was prosecuted again, leading to the current sentence he has been serving since 2005,” he added.
He said that a congressional hearing convened by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (TLHRC) will come up soon on the issue of Moroccan religious freedom and the recent deportation of foreigners.
Logan Maurer stated: “This wrongful imprisonment exposes the Moroccan government’s duplicity when it comes to religious freedom. They talk one way to the West, but their own people experience a very different reality. Morocco must be brought to account; to date a country that we give $650 million a year in aid money is hiding their religious persecution. I look forward to the hearing in order to bring this issue to light.”
We need to note that ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide and it provides awareness, advocacy, and assistance to the worldwide persecuted Church. And for more information about the organization, log on to their web address: www.persecution.org.
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