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Journalists fined for insulting Islam
AP ^ | Jan. 15, 2007 | John Thorne

Posted on 01/15/2007 9:25:04 AM PST by Alouette

CASABLANCA, Morocco - The editor and a journalist at a Moroccan news weekly that published jokes relating to Islam were convicted Monday of insulting the religion, court officials said.

The court gave three-year suspended sentences to Driss Ksikes, editor of Nichane, and to journalist Sanaa al-Aji, court officials said.

Both were barred from any journalistic activity for two months and the independent Arab-language magazine was suspended for two months. They were fined $9,280 each.

The sentence was milder than the three to five years in prison that prosecutors had requested.

The journalists would not comment as they left the courthouse. Lawyer Taoufik Benyoub said they would appeal the verdict.

But Ksikes last week told The Associated Press that the 10-page article was meant as a thoughtful examination of Moroccan popular humor.

"We just wanted to explain what Moroccans laugh about," Ksikes said.

Prime Minister Driss Jettou ordered Nichane banned on Dec. 20 in response to complaints posted on an Islamist Web site, Khorafa.org, and complaints from the Kuwaiti government about the article. Ksikes and al-Aji were swiftly tried for insulting Islam, a crime in Morocco.

Morocco's National Press Union condemned the trial.

The trial and a government-supported libel suit against another magazine, Le Journal Hebdomadaire, have led to concerns that the North African kingdom may be backsliding on moves in recent years to relax long-standing restrictions on the media.

Paris-based watchdog Reporters Without Borders has said that the government, by punishing Nichane, was seeking to burnish its Islamic credentials before parliamentary elections this year that the Islamist opposition Justice and Development Party is expected to win.


TOPICS: Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: freespeechrights; islam; islamiclaw; islamicsupremacists; morocco; theocracy
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Morocco is a moderate Moslem country, otherwise they would have been beheaded.
1 posted on 01/15/2007 9:25:09 AM PST by Alouette
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To: 1st-P-In-The-Pod; A_Conservative_in_Cambridge; af_vet_rr; agrace; albyjimc2; Alexander Rubin; ...
FRmail me to be added or removed from this Judaic/pro-Israel/Russian Jewry ping list.

Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.

2 posted on 01/15/2007 9:25:46 AM PST by Alouette (Psalms of the Day: 119 1:96)
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To: Alouette

Is there anything that is not insulting to Islam?


3 posted on 01/15/2007 9:26:54 AM PST by Brilliant
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To: Alouette
In this country, people that insult Christianity are heralded as torchbearers of free speech.

Maybe there are some things we can learn from Muslim countries.
4 posted on 01/15/2007 9:27:24 AM PST by stm (Believe 1% of what you hear in the drive-by media and take half of that with a grain of salt)
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To: Alouette

Chopping heads and flying planes into buildings gets no punishment. Saying the truth gets you in trouble.


5 posted on 01/15/2007 9:29:44 AM PST by Leftism is Mentally Deranged (liberalism = brain cell deficiency)
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To: Brilliant

Watching 60 minutes, George W. Bush, I realize that the Western Mind has no comprehension of how these people think. Key to success in dialog is understanding people. They don't thirst or crave a democratic free speech populace.


6 posted on 01/15/2007 9:31:05 AM PST by rovenstinez
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To: Alouette

I don't suppose al-AP would dare tell us what the jokes were about.


7 posted on 01/15/2007 9:32:15 AM PST by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Alouette

I feel left out for not being fined -- http://youtube.com/watch?v=K_Yf7rfGKPw


8 posted on 01/15/2007 9:35:12 AM PST by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: Alouette

Nobody with a sense of humor is permitted to convert to islam...nor would they want to.


9 posted on 01/15/2007 9:41:00 AM PST by snarks_when_bored
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To: Brilliant

Question :"Is there anything that is not insulting to Islam?"
---
Answer: A Muslim.

Since I am not a Muslim, my being alive is an insult to Islam.


10 posted on 01/15/2007 9:46:20 AM PST by Stark_GOP
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To: Alouette

It's a good thing Jouralists aren't fined for insulting Christianity here... But just you wait, I bet thefirst fine to be handed out to a journalist in America will be for insulting the cult of death.


11 posted on 01/15/2007 9:46:52 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
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To: Alouette; Sabertooth; SJackson
Religion of PeaceTM

ALERT

12 posted on 01/15/2007 9:47:15 AM PST by Paul Ross (Ronald Reagan-1987:"We are always willing to be trade partners but never trade patsies.")
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To: Brilliant
Is there anything that is not insulting to Islam?

Only the truth

13 posted on 01/15/2007 9:47:19 AM PST by Teacher317
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To: Teacher317

on the contrary- the truth IS insulting to Islam.


14 posted on 01/15/2007 9:49:11 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
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To: Alouette

Can CBS be fined for insulting President Bush?

All night long on "60 Minutes" it was "Mr. Bush" instead of "Mr. President".
Not to mention the insulting questions.


15 posted on 01/15/2007 9:50:51 AM PST by G Larry (Only strict constructionists on the Supreme Court!)
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To: All

they better not read FR


16 posted on 01/15/2007 9:52:32 AM PST by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: stm

NO, there is NOTHING we can emulate from Islam.


17 posted on 01/15/2007 9:53:05 AM PST by 353FMG (I never met a liberal I didn't dislike.)
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To: longtermmemmory

I'm sure they do. Just like they read Jihad Watch. They don't come and play here very often, like they do on Jihad watch.


18 posted on 01/15/2007 9:54:23 AM PST by Nathan Zachary
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To: Nathan Zachary
D'oh!

It's been a long morning... thanks for the assist!! LOL

19 posted on 01/15/2007 9:55:36 AM PST by Teacher317
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To: Alouette

How many Muslims does it take to change a lightbulb?

One thousand and one. One to guilt-trip a westerner into doing it, and a thousand to blame the westerner for destroying the darkness that is central to their way of life.


20 posted on 01/15/2007 9:56:19 AM PST by Our man in washington (The Democratic party is an alliance of narcissists and parasites.)
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