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We Are Not Amused
There is a different side to Casablanca than the one depicted in the film starring Humphrey Bogart.
An un-hygienic prison in the city of Casablanca is now home to Fouad Mourtada, a computer engineer. He has been sentenced to live there for the next three years. His alleged crime was to post a "false" profile, via the Internet, of the brother of HM King Muhammad VI. The brother is HRH Crown Prince Moulay Rachid.
Mr Fouad Mourtada, 27-years-old, was judged to have committed the criminal offence of insulting the royal family of Morocco. An appeal by his family for clemency has, to this date, not been answered by the royal household in the capital, Rabat.
In recent years numerous journalists and actors have been sent to gaol for 'defaming' and or 'damaging' the prestige of the 'nation'. (The 'nation can also be interpreted as the monarchy, if you are a judge appointed by HM Muhammud VI).
There appears to be more than a whiff of censorship in the honourable North African kingdom.
Morocco bound (and gagged).
