Le Monde Covers Christian Expulsions

This is a bit late, but a couple of weeks ago the French daily Le Monde published this article about the recent spate of expulsions from Morocco.

It mentions the expulsion of the Franciscan priest that The Moroccan Dispatches covered last month.

All are suspected of "undermining the faith of Muslims," i.e. the crime of proselytizing inscribed in Moroccan law and punishable by six months to three years in prison. Like others, the Franciscan Father Zaki, who officiated at Larache, in the region of Tangier, did not have more than a few hours to pack his bags.

A first. A hispanophone of Egyptian origin, he was returned by plane to Cairo, where he remained in custody for seven hours without a clear explanation of the reasons for his forced departure. And without a clear grounds for his arrest and deportation, there was no opportunity for recourse. "Was it an error? Did he make a mistake? Nobody knows," sighed Father Daniel Nourissat, in charge of the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes to Casablanca.
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Tous sont soupçonnés d'"ébranler la foi des musulmans", un délit de prosélytisme inscrit dans la loi marocaine et puni de six mois à trois ans de prison. Comme les autres, le Père franciscain Zaki, qui officiait à Larache, dans la région de Tanger, n'a donc eu que quelques heures pour faire ses bagages.

Une première. Hispanophone, d'origine égyptienne, il a été renvoyé par avion au Caire, où il est resté sept heures en garde à vue sans pouvoir expliquer les raisons de son départ forcé. Et sans motif clair, pas de recours possible. "Est-ce une erreur ? A-t-il commis une faute ? Nul ne le sait", soupire le Père Daniel Nourissat, chargé de la paroisse Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes de Casablanca.

Unlike the official media coverage here in Morocco where the officially recognized churches parroted the government's line, in the Le Monde article Christian leaders in Morocco nuanced their views. While not condoning the illegal activity of proselytism, they indicated that the recent crackdown was a "harsher stance" than normal. One even classified the recent actions as "bizarre".

The reporter also attempted to get an interview with a Moroccan Christians but was unable to do so even under the condition of anonymity. That fact in and of itself should indicate the fear that Moroccan Christians live under. As commenters on this blog have noted, some Moroccans convert to Christianity out of the hope for money and a visa. But to extend that observation to all Moroccan Christians is clearly naive as this Le Monde article demonstrates.

All in all, the article presents an excellent survey of the entire situation. I highlight it here only because of its thoroughness. It is only a simple article that happens to be well-researched and well-written, but it puts to shame most of the local Moroccan press and the vast majority of the foreign press, neither of which have managed to produce much of similar quality.