(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Ahmed Midaoui, RSF protested the blocking of the Internet site of the weekly “Rissalat Al Foutouwa” (www.fotowa.com), voice of the student section of the Islamic association Al-Adl Wal Ihsane (Justice and Spirituality). RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard urged the minister to “lift the mechanisms blocking the […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Ahmed Midaoui, RSF protested the blocking of the Internet site of the weekly “Rissalat Al Foutouwa” (www.fotowa.com), voice of the student section of the Islamic association Al-Adl Wal Ihsane (Justice and Spirituality). RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard urged the minister to “lift the mechanisms blocking the site,” and added: “After having seized an issue of this newspaper with Islamic leanings in early April, the Moroccan authorities are now targeting its website. This is all the more regrettable since, until now, Morocco had not imposed any restrictions on Internet access.”
In RSF’s opinion, press freedom applies to all media, regardless of their political or religious leanings, as long as they do not publish or broadcast racist or discriminatory remarks or call for violence. The organisation also asked the minister to see to it that the pressure brought to bear against the printers and distributors who were approached by Al-Adl Wal Ihsane’s publications ceases.
According to information obtained by RSF, access within Morocco to the website of the weekly “Rissalat Al Foutouwa” (www.fotowa.com) has been blocked since early April. On 6 April 2001, the authorities seized issue 34 of the weekly. No explanation for the move was offered to the newspaper’s management. Yet Mohamed Aghnaj, publication director of “Rissalat Al Foutouwa”, is in possession of a valid receipt, dated February 1999, authorising him to publish his newspaper. Since November 2000, printers and distributors have refused to print and distribute “Rissalat Al Foutouwa”. Aghnaj claims they received “instructions from above.” As a result of the pressure, the newspaper’s management was forced to find alternative means to print and distribute the newspaper. However, management decided to interrupt publication of “Rissalat Al Foutouwa” as of mid-April.
For its part, the weekly “Al-Adl Wal Ihsane”, voice of the association of the same name, has not published in the last year, following similar pressure on printers and distributors by the authorities. The association’s website (www.aljamaa.org), and the site of Cheikh Abdesselam Yassine (www.yassine.net), head of the Islamic association, have also been blocked.
For further information on the Interent in Morocco, view “The Enemies of the Internet” on RSF’s website: www.rsf.fr
