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Moroccan Islamist prisoners "in danger" during hunger strike | TopNews Law

Posted on July 8th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Morocco.

Moroccan Islamist prisoners “in danger” during hunger strike | TopNews Law
Casablanca, Morocco – Families of Moroccan hunger-striking Islamist prisoners demonstrated Tuesday in front of Casablanca’s Oukacha prison, saying that the lives of more than 50 inmates were in danger.

The inmates have been on hunger strike for two months over the deterioration of their prison conditions.

“Their lives are seriously in danger,” Abderrahim Mouhtade, president of the association Annassir that defends them, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Some of the inmates have been hospitalized.

The inmates say their prison conditions have deteriorated, with the prison authorities refusing to grant them any concessions after nine Islamists escaped from a prison in Kenitra near Rabat in April.

The nine had been convicted of links with the 2003 Casablanca suicide bombings that killed 45 people. One of them was caught a week later, while the others are still on the run. dpa

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Moroccan Islamist prisoners “in danger” during hunger strike | TopNews Law

Posted on July 8th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Morocco.

Moroccan Islamist prisoners “in danger” during hunger strike | TopNews Law
Casablanca, Morocco – Families of Moroccan hunger-striking Islamist prisoners demonstrated Tuesday in front of Casablanca’s Oukacha prison, saying that the lives of more than 50 inmates were in danger.

The inmates have been on hunger strike for two months over the deterioration of their prison conditions.

“Their lives are seriously in danger,” Abderrahim Mouhtade, president of the association Annassir that defends them, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Some of the inmates have been hospitalized.

The inmates say their prison conditions have deteriorated, with the prison authorities refusing to grant them any concessions after nine Islamists escaped from a prison in Kenitra near Rabat in April.

The nine had been convicted of links with the 2003 Casablanca suicide bombings that killed 45 people. One of them was caught a week later, while the others are still on the run. dpa

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Protected: nrc.nl – Binnenland – Omstreden imam weer aan het werk bij hogeschool

Posted on July 8th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Misc. News.

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In Morocco, a festival where tolerance is traditional and Jews pray together with Muslims – International Herald Tribune

Posted on July 8th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Morocco.

In Morocco, a festival where tolerance is traditional and Jews pray together with Muslims – International Herald Tribune
In Morocco, a festival where tolerance is traditional and Jews pray together with Muslims
The Associated Press
Published: July 8, 2008
SAFI, Morocco: It’s an uncommon sight for an Arab country: hundreds of joyous Jewish pilgrims gathering without fear around a rabbi’s tomb, greeted by local Muslim officials who share a prayer with them at a synagogue.Yet most of the 400 Jews who converged on the Moroccan coastal town of Safi — some from nearby cities, others from as far as France or Israel — at a weekend pilgrimage said they felt welcome here.

While religious tensions flare in Jerusalem and beyond, in Morocco, Jews and Muslims say they nurture a legacy of tolerance and maintain common sanctuaries where adherents of both religions pray. Decades of emigration to Israel by Morocco’s Jews and terrorist bombings in Casablanca that targeted Jewish sites haven’t diminished the draw of these annual pilgrimages.

During the festival that began Friday, visitors prayed and feasted around the shrine of Abraham Ben Zmirro, a rabbi reputed to have fled persecution in Spain in the 15th century and then lived in Safi, where he is buried with six siblings.

A half-Jewish, half-Muslim band played local tunes during a banquet, including a song in French, Arabic and Hebrew with the line: “There is only one God, you worship Him sitting down and I while standing up.”
The pilgrims were joined Sunday by Aaron Monsenego, the great rabbi of Morocco, who prayed alongside the regional governor and several other Muslim officials at the shrine’s synagogue for the good health of Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and his family.

“It’s very important for us to pray altogether,” Monsenego told The Associated Press.

Regional governor Larbi Hassan Sebbari said, “We’re also very proud of it: it gives a lesson to other countries of what we do together without any taboo.”

While several Arab states refuse to recognize the Jewish state’s right to exist, reject Israeli visitors and ignore the remnants of their local Jewish heritage, Moroccans insist it is not the case in this moderate Muslim nation and U.S. ally.

Once home to some 300,000 Jews, Morocco hosts the Arab world’s only Jewish museum, funds Jewish institutions and frequently holds events to celebrate Judeo-Moroccan heritage.

Still, the Jewish population here has dwindled to about 4,000 — most in Casablanca. Economics, fears of living in an Arab state and sporadic discrimination drove hundreds of thousands of Moroccan Jews to Israel, Europe or America over the past few decades.

Many left in 1948 when the state of Israel was created, or in 1956 when Morocco won independence from France. Other waves followed after the Israeli-Arab conflicts of 1967 and 1973 caused riots in some Moroccan towns.

Jewish leaders who stayed say they practice their religion freely and that synagogues are well protected by police, especially since the 2003 bombings in Casablanca. And despite the bombings, Casablanca — Morocco’s commercial capital — still boasts 32 active synagogues.

“There was never any racism in Safi,” said Haim Ohana, one of only 10 Jewish people remaining in a town where 6,000 Jews once lived. “People left from here because they were poor,” said Ohana, who helped organize the pilgrimage and runs several businesses.

The pilgrimage rituals are called Moussem in Arabic and Hilloula in Hebrew.

Many of the pilgrims, including ultra-Orthodox Jews from Israel and French and Canadian businessmen, are emigres who say they come to pray in Safi because of their emotional ties to Morocco.

Therese Elisha, an Israeli, said she makes the pilgrimage every other year. “This is the town where I grew up, the synagogue where I prayed,” she said. “I feel at home.”

“We’re maintaining a bridge over the divide of the exodus,” said Simone Merra, a human resources manager in Paris.

Some of Morocco’s Jews wonder how long their community will remain. Nadia Bensimon, who runs a fashion boutique in a coastal town, said she had no plans to leave. “But that could change if the Islamists become too powerful,” she said.

Morocco’s main Islamist opposition party — Adl wal Ihsan — enjoys broad support, but it is banned from politics; secular parties dominate parliament.

Though most of his relatives now live abroad, Ohana said his family traces its arrival in Morocco to 2,076 years ago.

“As for Safi, we’ve been here for nine centuries,” he said. “It’s my town, I’d see no reason to leave.”

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Marc Sageman on the battle for young Muslims' hearts and minds and the future of the leaderless jihad – Full Comment

Posted on July 8th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Important Publications, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Marc Sageman on the battle for young Muslims’ hearts and minds and the future of the leaderless jihad – Full Comment

There has been talk of an al-Qaeda resurgence, but the truth is that most of the hard core members of the first and second waves have been killed or captured. The survival of the social movement they inspired relies on the continued inflow of new members. But this movement is vulnerable to whatever may diminish its appeal among young people. Its allure thrives only at the abstract fantasy level. The few times its aspirations have been translated into reality — the Taliban in Afghanistan, parts of Algeria during its civil war and, more recently, in Iraq’s Anbar province — were particularly repulsive to most Muslims.

What’s more, a leaderless social movement is permanently at the mercy of its participants. As each generation attempts to define itself in contrast to its predecessor, what appeals to the present generation of young would-be radicals may not appeal to the next. At present, the major source of appeal is the anger and moral outrage provoked by the invasion of Iraq. But as the Western footprint there fades so will the appeal of fighting it.

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Marc Sageman on the battle for young Muslims’ hearts and minds and the future of the leaderless jihad – Full Comment

Posted on July 8th, 2008 by martijn.
Categories: Important Publications, International Terrorism, Religious and Political Radicalization, Young Muslims.

Marc Sageman on the battle for young Muslims’ hearts and minds and the future of the leaderless jihad – Full Comment

There has been talk of an al-Qaeda resurgence, but the truth is that most of the hard core members of the first and second waves have been killed or captured. The survival of the social movement they inspired relies on the continued inflow of new members. But this movement is vulnerable to whatever may diminish its appeal among young people. Its allure thrives only at the abstract fantasy level. The few times its aspirations have been translated into reality — the Taliban in Afghanistan, parts of Algeria during its civil war and, more recently, in Iraq’s Anbar province — were particularly repulsive to most Muslims.

What’s more, a leaderless social movement is permanently at the mercy of its participants. As each generation attempts to define itself in contrast to its predecessor, what appeals to the present generation of young would-be radicals may not appeal to the next. At present, the major source of appeal is the anger and moral outrage provoked by the invasion of Iraq. But as the Western footprint there fades so will the appeal of fighting it.

0 comments.