Recently in Human Rights Category

Marrakesh hotelier and aesthete blogs live from the turmoil in Afghanistan at My Marrakesh. (Twitter feed @mymarrakesh)

I started playing with websites from the moment my (now defunct) dial up provider offered me 5 megabytes of web space, and I dived into blogging at about the time that Dave Winer first decided Frontier 5 could be more than an alternative script for Apple Computers and positioned it as a blog publishing tool. (I moved to Movable Type in 2003 and have never looked back). I have consistently, if intermittently, written a blog (or two) ever since, but the thing that nearly killed off my blogging habit was Facebook.

Facebook has a number of inherent advantages over a blog. First of all, it is designed primarily as a means to keep in touch with people one already knows and likes, so it have an important function apart from the kind of exchange of information for which a blog exists. Secondly, people actually read and comment upon and sometimes care about what you write on Facebook, and because they are already your friends, they are generally supportive. The blogosphere, by contrast, unless one is on the so-called "A-list" or even on the "D-list", can be kind of a cold and lonely place, one in which one is essentially shouting in the vacuum with no one to hear. This is not all a bad thing, and can actually be quite therapeutic, but it is a different experience from Facebook.

Another thing that Facebook does well is it pulls people together, at least superficially, into groups of common interest. One of the most encouraging Facebook groups I have joined is entitled "On est Juifs et on est Musulmans et on s'aime. (OJMA)." In one sense, such a group may reflect no more than a naive one-worldism that overlooks the serious rifts that exist among adherents of the three Abrahamic religions. I prefer, however, to think of the group as an expression of hope that hatred can be overcome, particular in a region -- the so-called Holy Land -- that is rife with hatred even as it purports to be a center of peace and love. This group, to which I was referred by Tunisian blogger Massir Destin, appears to be comprised largely of francophone North Africans, who have a remarkable tradition of religious tolerance stretching back even before the establishment of the legendary kingdoms of El Andalus in what is now southern Spain. This not to say that the region is without bigotry, but it has a remarkable historical record of largely not eviscerating people over religious differences. So-called Christian Europe, with its shameful record of persecution, pogroms, and ultimately the Holocaust, should take note. Suffice it to say that with number of close Muslim friends and a Jewish family, this cause comes close to home.

Finally, however, I come full circle. Because for all the virtues that have led to its explosive growth, there are a number of areas where Facebook falls short of the blogosphere. First, Facebook may be liberal, but it is not free. In the benevolent dictatorship of Facebook, the company can always shut you down. Breastfeeding mothers found that out in a hurry. True, the various companies that host blogs are also able to impose some restrictions, but one can always move, and, even, in a pinch host one's blog onself, so long as one has a computer and a high speed connection. Facebook, in contrast, has far more control over both content and its distribution than anyone has over a blog. Second, Facebook is geared toward people one knows already, functioning more sometimes as an echo chamber than a true exchange of information. Third, Facebook takes only limited advantage of the possibilities for linking information offered by the full web and the blogosphere. Finally, Facebook has an audience limited to one's "friends"; the audience in the blogosphere is potentially limited only by the number of users on the web and the efficiency of Google.

The two journalists from the weekly newspaper Al Watan Al An, Mustafa Hormatallah and publisher Abderrahim Ariri were convicted by a criminal court in Casablanca for "concealing items derived from a crime."

THE VIEW FROM FEZ has a very thoughtful post on population distribution. While acknowledging the challenges posed by urban poverty, the article points out that they are often a response to the greater hardships of rural poverty. The question becomes how the more fortunate segments of society wil respond to the needs of the less fortunate in the cities. The post cites the United Nations' State of the World Population Report.

The Morocco Report calls upon the Blogoma to rise up in protest of Morocco's decision to block access to YouTube, joining the likes of China, Syria, and Iran as Internet censors. Fortunately, an attack on the Internet is often defeated by the Internet itself, and there are a number of suggestions online for circumventing such censorship: see for example, Blogspot Blogs Banned in India and How to Access Blocked Sites. Unfortunately, since I am not in Morocco, I cannot personally verify whether any of these methods work, although I would certainly appreciate feedback from anyone who tries them.

Morocco Report points to Mariane Pearl's article in Glamour on the fate of unwed Moroccan mothers and their babies.

The Morocco Report � Mariane Pearl on unwed Moroccan mothers

Sexual Threats Stifle Some Female Bloggers - washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post today ran a story on women bloggers being targeted with harassment and threats of violence:

As women gain visibility in the blogosphere, they are targets of sexual harassment and threats. Men are harassed too, and lack of civility is an abiding problem on the Web. But women, who make up about half the online community, are singled out in more starkly sexually threatening terms -- a trend that was first evident in chat rooms in the early 1990s and is now moving to the blogosphere, experts and bloggers said.

Beyond the obvious revulsion against threats of sexual violence against anyone, there are several additional reasons why this story is particularly disturbing. Not only are many of the attacks quite graphic, but also the perpetrators are often able to remain anonymous on the Internet. While one's first sympathies go to the victims, the consequences for the blogosphere are also likely to be severe. I would venture to say that a majority of the high quality blogs that I read regularly are written by women, and for women in the Maghreb the Internet seems to have been a particularly liberating opportunity for public expression. It would be a shame for the criminal actions of a few sociopaths to shut down access to free expression on the Internet for over half of the population. Finally, if my daughters want to blog when they get older, I want them to be able to do so without fear.

Maurice Arthur Jean Papon's chief claim to infamy, according to the New York Times, was his signing the deportation orders of thousands of Jews sent to the death camps during World War II while he was an official in the collaborationist Vichy regime. His subsequent career, however, was littered with bodies from his career as a regional prefect in Algeria during the war for independence and later as prefect of police in Paris. The abduction of Moroccan opposition leader Mehdi Ben Barka by two policemen took place while Mr. Papon was prefect of police. Mr. Papon characteristically denied responsibility. In 1998, he received a 10-year sentence for complicity in Nazi crimes against humanity; he served less than three years.

Morocco takes a policy stand more progressive than all but 13 states in the United States, as it formally abolishes the death penalty in April.  In the year 2003, 65 people were executed in the United States, making the United States a member of a select group of states practicing the death penalty that includes China, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.

Update: BO18 points out that Djibouti has the honor of being the first Arab state to abolish the death penalty, which it did in 1995.

First Arab Nominated for Holocaust Honor - washingtonpost.com

Khaled Abdelwahhab saved a group of Tunisian Jews by hiding them on his farm during World War II. Now, he iis the first Arab to be nominated as "Righteous Among the Nations" an honor bestowed upon non-Jews who saved Jews from the Nazis by Yad Vashem, Israel's memorial to the Holocaust.

Abdelwahhab was nominated by Robert Satloff, director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a U.S. think tank.

Satloff said that after the Sept. 11 attacks, he went to Morocco to research what happened during the Nazi genocide in hopes of countering Holocaust denial in the Arab world and tempering some of the sentiments he thought helped pave the way for the attacks.

While the recognition of Abdelwahhab is welcome, it seems sad to me that it has come so late to so few.

Note: Although Morocco was controlled by Vichy France and not the Nazis directly, the story notes the role of Mohammed V in saving Moroccan Jews. Nomination two?

Morocco Acquits Five Former Guantanamo Inmates - New York Times

Reuters reports that Morocco has done more for five former prisoners of Guantanamo Bay than the United States ever did. Unlike the United States, Morocco gave them a trial, and perhaps surprisingly, it acquitted them. Americans should think long and hard about being put to shame by the Moroccan judiciary.

Laila Lalami | Nichane: Update

Laila Lalami weighs in on the Nichane judgment, which despite being less than the penalty sought, she characterizes as a "Sword of Damocles" over the journalists' heads. One misstep, and they could be subject to jail time. As a strategy by the palace for dealing with Islamists, she deems it a failure, a strategy more likely to encourage them than not.

THE VIEW FROM FEZ: Moroccan Writer Tahar Ben Jelloun wins Peace Award

The View from Fes reports that celebrated Moroccan writer Tahar Ben Jelloune has won the Peace Award of the United Nations Association of Spain.

The Imperial Presidency 2.0 - New York Times

The New York Times' lead editorial reiterates allegations that the Bush administration is using Morocco for "extraordinary rendition" and torture of terror suspects:

Mr. Mohamed was a target of another favorite Bush administration practice: “extraordinary rendition,” in which foreign citizens are snatched off the streets of their hometowns and secretly shipped to countries where they can be abused and tortured on behalf of the American government. Mr. Mohamed — whose name appears nowhere in either of the cases against Mr. Padilla — has said he was tortured in Morocco until he signed a confession that he conspired with Mr. Padilla. The Bush administration clearly has no intention of answering that claim, and plans to keep Mr. Mohamed in extralegal detention indefinitely.

Nichane - نيشان

Moroccan magazine Nichane was recently banned by the Moroccan government for publishing popular jokes about religion, sex, and politics, which the government claimed subverted public morale and morality. Stand up for freedom of expression and sign the petition to support Nichane today. Text of the petition follows:

Petition to support Nichane

We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the unlawful ban imposed on Nichane weekly and the legal proceedings started against the editor and a journalist working for the magazine after the publication of a special report on “jokes” in Morocco.

We maintain that the ban is illegal and, in view of its form and substance, reinforces the extra-judiciary repressive measures already in force. We further believe that the ban and the legal proceedings undermine the rights and liberties established by the international authorities and human rights principles.

While we express our full and wholehearted solidarity with Nichane and call for the annulment of the ban and the dropping of the charges against its journalists, we reiterate our plea for the amendment of liberticidal laws regarding freedom of the press and freedom of opinion and thought.

Thanks to Foulla for the link. (Foulla's post includes a very attractive picture of targeted journalist Sanaa Al Aji.)

Eatbees reports a disturbing rumor that the Moroccan government's surprise shutdown of the periodical "Nichane" was prompted by pressure from the Gulf states and may reflect Saudi interference with Moroccan internal affairs.

Larbi, however, on whose blog the rumor originally appeared (in a comment from nemo), points out in a comment to eatbees that this act of censorship is unusual because it appears to be supported by a majority of the Moroccan people. At the same time,Larbi paints a grim picture of the fight for civil liberties and free expression caught between the repression of the Monarchy on one side and the widely popular Islamist Party of Justice and Development (PJD) on the other.

	Blank Post is a protest against the suppression of blogs by the Tunisian government. Bloggers are asked to participate by posting a blank post and nothing else for 24 hours on December 25, 2006.

Merci a Mon Massir pour le lien.

Le Monde.fr : Maroc: Diffusion interdite d'un hebdomadaire pour atteinte à l'islam

The Palace Crackdown

Le Monde reports that the Moroccan government has taken a step away from free speech by confiscating an issue of the magazine Nichane ("Straight") for having the temerity to print jokes about "religion, sex, and politics." Most particularly, the Palace deemed the publication to have launched an "attack against Islam" and to have published writings contrary to "public morale and morals." The royal prosecutor has launched an investigation into the publisher and the journalist Sanaa Al Aji.

The American Contrast

Regardless of what idiots like Newt Gingrich believe, the First Amendment is the essential linchpin of American Democracy. Central to the First Amendment are the ideas that the government will not restrict freedom of expression and that the government will not support one religion over another. Obviously, I have not seen the jokes in question, but even if they were of the most extreme and inflammatory sort, they could be published in America without prior restraint. (Even in this dark age, jokes in print are unlikely to be considered "incitement" outside of First Amendment protection.) In this sense, unlike so many others, alas, America is a beacon to the world, and Morocco will not be a true democracy until it adopts similar principles. After all that Islam has survived, it will survive a few jokes.

The Erosion of the American Example

Of course, in the Age of Bush, nothing is straightforward. Now that prosecutors are subpoenaing journalists in the Plame affair, threatening them with prosecution in the AIPAC scandal, and otherwise making noises about prosecuting journalists if they are in receipt of "state secrets, the bloom may be off the First Amendment rose even in America.

Go Daddy ordered to pay ex-employee $390,000

Youssef Bouamama, a Moroccan employee of Go Daddy, won an impressive victory in a case before the U.S. District Court in Arizona, the Arizona Republic Reports:

The jury said Go Daddy must pay Bouamama $250,000 in punitive damages, $135,000 in back pay and $5,000 for emotional pain and suffering.

While the award for emotional pain and suffering is minimal, the jury made a clear statement about the wrongfulness of the company's conduct in retaliating against Mr. Bouamama after he complained that he had been discriminated against because of his religion and national origin. The jury did not find that there was discrimination based on religion or national origin, the paper reports, but in general it is easier to prove a case of retaliation under the Civil Rights Act of 1964 than it is to prove discrimination. In addition, the fact that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission brought this case, rather than Mr. Bouamama on his own, suggests that maybe the government will take a stand against discrimination and retaliation toward Muslims and Arabs in this country.

Islam & Religious Tolerance

Those who believe (in the Quran) and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures) and the Christians and the Sabaeans, any who believe in Allah, and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. T.Q., Sura 2 of 114, The Cow, verse 62.

Nadia Lamlili has a very thoughtful post (in French) discussing the underlying similarities of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam and the potential for tolerance among them. Overall, she concludes that there is more room for tolerance than the adherents of the three religions are normally willing to admit.

Interview With Condoleezza Rice - washingtonpost.com

Condoleezza Rice may be whistling past the graveyard, but she has encouraging words for reform and liberalization in Morocco.

But I think if you go to the Forum for the Future and you see these non-governmental organizations gathered together and being able to sit across the table from the most conservative Arab states like Saudi Arabia all the way out to reforming states like the states of the Gulf and Jordan, it's quite an achievement and I can list the achievements: they have women voting in Kuwait, the beginning of municipal elections in Saudi Arabia; but also if you look at places like Bahrain and Oman and Morocco and Jordan, the reform agenda is alive and well. And what will we say to those people who have staked their future on reform and democracy if somehow this word disappears from American foreign policy? And so to me this is at the core.

I actually agree that the United States should support democracy. I do not think we can do this through secret government, intimidation of the press, invasions, torture, clandestine imprisonments, suspension of habeas corpus, military show trials, and removing jurisdiction from courts. In addition, given the stark realities of the situation in Iraq, which Rice largely seems to play down, it seems hard to believe that the administration of which she is a part will somehow experience a revelation and begin to provide wise leadership on the Israeli-Palestinian issue or even on reform in Morocco.

U.N. Cites Arab World's 'Empty Gestures' on Women - washingtonpost.com

A United Nations report cites progress on women's rights in Morocco and a few other countries, but finds that the status of women continues to be below that of much of the rest of the world:

[Amat al-Alim Alsoswa, director of the U.N. Development Program's Arab bureau,] also said that although women's participation in politics has grown in such countries as Morocco, Bahrain and Iraq, it is "still below what it is outside the Arab world."

The report cites Morocco as not simply secularizing the laws related to women, but also creatively reinterpreting Islamic law to afford women more rights.

The Daily Princetonian - A prince of Morocco, now of Princeton

The Daily Princetonian has a very flattering portrait of Prince Moulay Hicham Benabdallah, third in line to the throne but persona non grata at the palace for his outspokenness regarding democratic reform.

Satirist spotlights rights record at Morocco festival|Reuters.com

Ahmed Snoussi is protesting censorship at the Marrakesh Film Festival, Reuters reports:

Ahmed Snoussi, known as Bziz, is popular with millions of Moroccans, even though he said the state had excluded him from its radio and television stations, and theatres, since 1988. The government says he is not banned or censored.

"I'm telling the festival guests that the event they are attending is a fake setting that is unable to veil the real plight of freedom of thought, opinion and press in Morocco," he told Reuters by telephone from the Marrakech Cinema Festival which opened on Friday.

The Moroccan Human Rights Association confirmed the existence of the restrictions on Bziz's performances.

Prisoners of Sex - New York Times

The New York Times has an article on an Arab crackdown on homosexual activity. Primarily dealing with Egypt, although Morocco is mentioned, the article argues that denunciation of homosexuality is perceived as an easy way to attack Western values. For the trope of the West imposing homosexuality on the Arab world, the author cites Mohammed Choukri:

There is a searing scene in the Moroccan writer Mohamed Choukri’s 1973 novel “For Bread Alone” in which a desperate young man, having recently moved from the country to the city in colonial Morocco, sells himself to an elderly Spaniard. The scene is explicit (they have oral sex in a car), and the novel, which has been banned or caused controversy in many Arab countries, serves as a stunning condemnation of the power disparities engendered by colonialism. Symbolism like Choukri’s is common in Arabic literature and cinema, providing for what the British writer Brian Whitaker has referred to as a “reverse Orientalism,” in which sex, and specifically homosexual sex, is presented as a foreign incursion, a tool of colonial domination.

The efforts of human rights organizations to condemn torture have damped down active persecution at the moment, but the article argues that militant Islam has given rise to a resurgence of anti-homosexual feeling that could result in renewed violent repression at any moment.

Matthew Shepard, of course, might remind us that such attitudes are not unique to the Arab world.

Plane Prayers - washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post is critical of U.S. Airways for its decision to force six imams from boarding an aircraft last week after they unrolled prayer rugs and said their prayers before boarding the aircraft. The Post concludes, correctly, that "America can't become a country so locked by fear that those who unfurl a prayer rug automatically become suspects."

The Post also notes that there are reports of other suspicious behavior by the imams that may have justified expelling them from the aircraft. In cases such as this, I believe the pilot ought to have near absolute discretion to decide who boards his airplane. However, if the imams were denied passage not because of suspicious behavior but because they prayed, or were Arabs, or were Muslims, then they should sue the airline blind. Discretion, yes; discrimination, no.

Thanks to Crossroads Arabia. See also BlackProf.com.

As I was reading a post about the election of Keith Ellison, America's first Muslim Congressman, the following anonymous comment at Refusenik raised a number of questions in my mind:

He's also an ardent supporter of Gay rights and gay marriage and legislation (including full rights for domestic gay partnerships)...which is fine if that's your thing...but as a Muslim?

Apparently the anonymous commenter does not think that Muslims can support, for example. gay rights. It seems to me that questions of religion, sexuality, and politics are always more complex than that.

Ellison's possible dilemma as a Muslim has long been faced by American Catholics, culminating in the election of John F. Kennedy, who was quite explicit about the fact that as President of the United States, he answered to the American people, all of them, not to the Pope. Mr. Ellison is not primarily elected for his private beliefs, but as the representative of his constituents. However, the anonymous commenter also raised questions for me about how Muslims should confront sexuality and individual rights in a modern Islamic country such as Morocco.

My knowledge of sexuality in Morocco is spotty at best. I know that I was a bit surprised at the degree of rural prostitution. I had friends who were involved in straight relationships with Moroccans and friends who were involved in gay relationships with Moroccans. I am aware that homosexual activity is a criminal offense, and it is my understanding that there is a significant problem with sex trafficking in Morocco. America's most famous expatriate novelist living in Morocco, Paul Bowles, was but one of a number of prominent gay Americans who spent time in Morocco. Tahar ben Jelloun, at least in Le Dernier Ami, is quite frank about premarital Moroccan sexual relationships. And yet there is a strict requirement that women be virgins upon marriage. But there are always rumors of ways to cheat.

One might ask whether it is necessary, or important, or decent to pry into such questions. I think that it probably is, however uncomfortable people may find it, because sexual orientation and sexual practices are too often used to marginalize, victimize, or oppress people. Whether it is women or gays who choose to express or acknowledge their sexuality, doing so puts them at peril, not just in Islamic societies such as Morocco, but also in the United States.

SeeGay Morocco — Myths and Realities (contains some offensive references to "swarthiness"); What Is Going on in Morocco? Middle East Gay Journal (July 2006); Tahar Ben Jelloun, Le Dernier Ami

The Holocaust's Arab Heroes - washingtonpost.com

The Washington Post reports on Arab resistance to the Nazi occupation of North Africa and the role of Arab rescuers in saving Jews from the Nazis.

Arabs welcomed Jews into their homes, guarded Jews' valuables so Germans could not confiscate them, shared with Jews their meager rations and warned Jewish leaders of coming SS raids. The sultan of Morocco and the bey of Tunis provided moral support and, at times, practical help to Jewish subjects. In Vichy-controlled Algiers, mosque preachers gave Friday sermons forbidding believers from serving as conservators of confiscated Jewish property. In the words of Yaacov Zrivy, from a small town near Sfax, Tunisia, "The Arabs watched over the Jews."

Hearings for Moroccan Suspects Postponed - New York Times

RABAT, Morocco (AP) -- Hearings for the 56 people rounded up in a recent anti-terror sweep in Morocco scheduled for this week have been postponed to an unspecified date, judicial officials said Tuesday.

The indefinite postponement of hearings for 56 terror suspects arrested in Morocco raises questions about whether the rights of the suspects are being respected.

THE VIEW FROM FEZ: Women dumped in Morocco?

The View from Fez carries a chilling story about women who are abandoned in Morocco when their husbands or fathers return to Europe. About 20 or 30 women are abandoned each year.

One thing that is particularly interesting about this story is that it crosses the fault lines between Europe and North Africa, since the story suggests that the practice is mainly perpetrated by Moroccan immigrants to Holland (or possibly other European countries).

The story cries out for a broader analysis of the treatment of women in immigrant communities, in Europe, and in North Africa. It raises unanswered questions about whether the practice is unique to Morocco or fits in with a wider pattern of abuse of women. Perhaps that is asking too much of a single news story, but in light of common assumptions about how women are treated in the West versus Muslim countries, some serious analysis is called for.

The most disappointing part of the story is that the Dutch authorities have apparently washed their hands of the women who have already been abandoned and are confining their efforts to preventing future abandonments.

Morocco Arrests 44 Terrorist Suspects - New York Times

RABAT, Morocco (AP) -- Moroccan security services have arrested 44 suspected terrorists and dismantled a network allegedly planning attacks in the North African country, the state news agency reported Monday.

The article also notes that human rights organizations have raised concern that the Moroccan government has arrested and tortured innocent civilians in the course of its crackdown on terrorists.

Bloggin' the Maghreb: Land Mines in the Desert

Bloggin' the Maghreb has a thoughtful post on the human and ecological cost of mining the Western Sahara.

The Washington Post reports that Morocco's Truth Commission announced yesterday the disappearances of 600 people and the deaths of 500 more over the four decades from 1956 to 1999 colloquially referred to as a the "years of lead."

THE VIEW FROM F�S: Human rights defenders on trial

The View from Fes reports that Amnesty international is sending a delegate to observe the trial of seven advocates for human rights in the Western Sahara:

Amnesty International announced today that it is sending a delegate to observe the trial this week of seven human rights defenders from Western Sahara who the organization believes may be prisoners of conscience. They are standing trial together with seven other accused who are being prosecuted for participating in demonstrations against Moroccan rule.

In addition, Amnesty remains concerned about the fate of activist Brahim Dahane, who was also mentioned in testimony at a hearing before a subcommittee of the the U.S. House of Representatives.

France Says It Will Deport Foreigners for Rioting - New York Times

The expulsion measure, which affects even those foreigners living in France legally, was greeted with applause when it was announced at the National Assembly today by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, a spokesman for the minister said. It appeared to be aimed primarily at youths of North African and sub-Saharan African descent who have been involved in nearly two weeks of disturbances across France.

Expelling rioters seems like a shortsighted solution to the problems that caused the riots.

Spain/Morocco: The authorities must be held accountable for the violation of migrants' rights - news.amnesty - Amnesty International

Amnesty International has condemned the Spanish and Moroccan governments' treatment of African migrants attempting to cross the border from Morocco to Spain at Melilla and Ceuta. In addition to describing the injuries inflicted on migrants at the border crossings, Amnesty documents the practice of abandoning them in the desert.

Al Jinane (fr) reports that the Moroccan government has denounced Amnesty's criticisms. A commenter points out that Europe bears a heavy responsibility for creating the conditions that have led to the current immigration crisis. Amnesty acknowledges this responsibility, but does not condone the actions of the Spanish or Moroccan governments.

Morocco Said to Abandon Hundreds of Migrants in Desert - New York Times

ALGIERS, Oct 14 (AFP) - The separatist Polisario Front movement said Friday it has located hundreds of African migrants abandoned in the Western Sahara desert by Moroccan security forces driving them out of the country.

"Since Wednesday, we have located four groups of clandestine emigrants cast into the desert on orders from the Moroccan government in several parts of the liberated zones of the Sahrawi Republic," the movement's leadership stated.

The UN refugee agency and a UN peacekeeping mission in the Western Sahara on Thursday said they were worried and seeking west Africans left to fend without water and food in the territory, disputed between Morocco and Polisario, at the start of the week.

The source may be dubious, but the story is horrific.

Morocco Finds Graves of 50 Killed in '70's - New York Times

RABAT, Morocco, Oct. 8 (Reuters) - An official Moroccan human rights group announced Saturday that it had discovered the graves of 50 political prisoners who died at secret detention camps in the 1970's.

In Morocco, a Rights Movement, at the King's Pace - New York Times

In an interview in his Casablanca law office, the walls decorated with Koranic sayings engraved in brass, [Member of Parliament Mustafa] Rameed said the only opinion that really mattered was that of the king. "The political path is determined by the mood of the king and not the mood of the people. We have left the authoritarian years behind us, but we are not yet a democracy."

Mr. Rameed and many other people active politically hope to restructure the Constitution to strengthen the role of Parliament and the political parties while defining the monarchy within a framework of laws.

Le Matin.ma reports that Morocco is considering legislation to make torture a criminal act, but at the same time is contemplating imposing fines and prison terms for disrespect toward the Moroccan flag.

Human Rights Watch expresses concern over the government's crackdown on criminal defendants in the wake of the Casablanca bombings. In particular, Human Rights Watch notes that defendants can be detained for up to 10 days without being allowed to see a lawyer, and for up to 12 days before being brought before a judge. On a positive note, the Report discusses the Equity and Reconciliation Commission established to address human rights abuses under Hassan II, although it suggests the Commission's powers do not extend far enough. Human Rights Watch's summary links to a full 70-page report.