Jamaa Ait Bakrim
imprisoned because of his faith
It’s regrettable the kind of injustice Christians in Morocco are going through on a daily basis in the hands of the security officials as the government has continued to violate international agreements they agreed to. This fact is further supported in the case of Jamaa Ait Bakrim, a Moroccan Christian who has been imprisoned for his faith since 2005.
In a statement by the Advocacy Officer, International Christian Concern (ICC), Logan Maurer, he said that fresh details emerged recently on how the bulk of Jamaa’s 15-year sentence came from the mere accusation of “destruction of the goods of others.”
He stated: “The sentence Jamaa is serving is in blatant contradiction to international law agreed to by Morocco. This is the first time Jamaa Ait Bakrim’s case has been able to get out to the west and I am hopeful it signals the beginning of an effort that will bring freedom for Jamaa. He has already served five years for ‘destroying’ two unused electric poles; it is time Morocco be held accountable for the façade they have used to unjustly imprison a man for his faith.”
He noted that on June 17, ICC issued a press release covering the basic information: Jamaa (prisoner number 26574) was imprisoned in 2005 for his faith and is currently in Prison Centrale, located in Kenitra, Morocco.
“In actuality Jamaa burned two unused wooden posts that were blocking access to his house. He requested permission from local authorities and heard nothing until his arrest,” Maurer also said.
He noted that Jamaa’s case has recently come to the attention of the US Congress stressing that in a June 17 Congressional hearing on “Human Rights and Religious Freedom in Morocco,” Jamaa was referenced by Congressman Frank Wolf (VA-10) and Senator James Inhofe (OK-R) as an example of the ongoing persecution of Christians in Morocco.
According to him, Morocco is bound to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which it ratified on March 27, 1979. And Article 18 of the ICCPR states that everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, including the freedom to change their religion. This freedom includes the right to manifest the individual’s belief in public or private.
A professor who had known Jamaa since childhood stated: “Fifteen years for two abandoned posts, it is scandalous. Jamaa presented a serious problem for the authorities. He displayed his convictions in broad daylight and it is for this reason he underwent a crackdown.”
He continued: “Jamaa is a Christian who is convinced of what he believes; he is far from being mad. The business of two burnt posts gave the authorities an excuse to rid their city of a man they hated.”
It needs to be observed that Jamaa, after receiving a bachelor degree in Political Science from Rabat, he moved to Europe where he converted to Christianity. In 1993 he applied for political asylum in the Netherlands but was refused and was expelled back to Morocco when his visa expired.
Jamaa returned to his Moroccan village and his family thought his conversion was a religious crisis and would soon pass. In 1994 he spent seven months in jail for “proselytizing,” (case no. 919/95) and then forced internment at the mental hospital of Inezgane although he had no mental instability. Two years later he was again prosecuted for putting up a Christian cross in public and spent a year in jail.
When he was released Jamaa was rejected by his family and forced to move away from his home village to the city of Massa. He refused to bow to pressure to convert, and instead, put representations of the cross and verses from the Bible on his business storefront. When Jamaa burned two defunct wooden posts that had been unused for three years, it gave the authorities the excuse they needed.
Although he contacted local authorities to obtain permission, he was charged with “destruction of the goods of others” and “proselytizing.” Sentencing was delivered at the court of Agadir on December 28, 2005, condemning him to 15 years imprisonment.
For more information on this case and other persecution stories, log on to the website of ICC: http://www.persecution.org/ OR www.persecution.org/prisonerfocus
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