After long delays, Morocco's first Amazigh (Berber) TV channel
was launched last week. Initially, it is broadcasting six hours a day, and 10 hours a day at weekends, in the Tachelhit, Tarifit and Tamazight dialects.
I can't vouch for the quality of the programmes but nevertheless it'...
Blog archive: Morocco
-
12th January 2010
-
16th December 2009A blogger and the owner of an internet cafe have been jailed in Morocco. The blogger, Bashir Hazzam, was sentenced to four months for "disseminating false information harmful to the kingdom's image concerning human rights". He was arrested after publishing a statement on his blog from students...
-
9th November 2009Two journalists from Morocco's biggest-selling daily newspaper have been sentenced to jail for "publishing false information". Rachid Nini, founding editor of al-Massae was given a three-month sentence and writer Said Laajal a two-month sentence in connection with a report on...
-
28th October 2009The leading Spanish daily, el Pais, is the latest paper to be censored by the Moroccan authorities. Distribution of its Saturday edition was blocked in Morocco for "attacking the monarchy". El Pais had reprinted a cartoon which first appeared in Le Monde (also banned)...
-
17th October 2009A Moroccan editor has been jailed for “intentionally publishing false information” about the king's health. Driss Chahtan of al-Michaal newspaper was sentenced to a year in jail and two other journalists – Mostafa Hiran and Rashid Mahameed – were sentenced to three months each with a...
-
5th October 2009Choosing a baby’s name ought to be a matter for the child’s parents, but it’s not always so simple. In Morocco, the parents of Tiziri el-Bechnaoui are struggling to register her name, six months after her birth. The problem is that Tiziri – which means “moon” in the Berber language,...
-
2nd October 2009The Moroccan interior ministry has swung into action over a cartoon (above) published in the daily newspaper, Akhbar al-Youm, last weekend. Police detained and interrogated editor/publisher Taoufik Bouachrine and cartoonist Khaled Kadar for more than 24 hours. They also sealed off the paper'...
-
25th September 2009Morocco's fun-loving king, Mohammed VI, has run into trouble with environmentalists for having one of his luxury cars flown to Britain for repairs. The car, an Aston Martin DB7, travelled from Rabat in a specially-chartered Hercules transport aircraft. The Sun newspaper hasphotographs ...
-
1st September 2009Naâma Asfari, a Western Sahara human rights activist, has been jailed for four months in Morocco following a row with a policeman about his keychain. Asfari was stopped at a checkpoint outside Tantan on August 14. An officer noticed a flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic(...
-
2nd August 2009The authorities in Morocco have seized the latest edition of two of the country's leading independent magazines – TelQuel (circulation 35,000) and Nichane (50,000). The reason? Both published an opinion poll showing that 91% of Moroccans have a "positive or very positive"...
-
27th July 2009I happened to be watching Moroccan television in July 1999 when the programme was interrupted. A newsreader appeared, announced the death of King Hassan and burst into a flood of tears. My Moroccan companion looked startled ( since the death was unexpected) but remained totally dry-eyed – which I...
-
22nd July 2009Hot on the heels of the Egyptian poet who was jailed – and then released – for unpublished verses that “insulted” President Mubarak, the latest head of state to be attacked is Mohammed VI, king of Morocco, lover of water sports and Commander of the Faithful. The Arabist...
Pages
- « first
- ‹ previous
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
