US State department praises religious freedom in Morocco

The US State Department has praised Morocco for its religious freedoms in its 2021 World Religious Freedom Report, issued this June 2.

The United States highlighted the various initiatives launched by the Kingdom in this regard, which US Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not fail to recall during a press conference in Washington, DC, on the occasion of the publication of his department’s report.

“Last year, the Kingdom of Morocco launched an initiative to renovate Jewish heritage sites, such as places of worship and cemeteries, and to include Jewish history in the Moroccan school curriculum,” said Blinken.

In this context, the report said that King Mohammed VI, on December 14 last year, launched an initiative to rehabilitate Jewish heritage sites, particularly hundreds of synagogues, Jewish cemeteries, and other Jewish sites across various Moroccan cities and rural areas.

The report welcomed an announcement by the national education sector to include Jewish heritage and history in the public school curriculum in both Arabic and French. The document states that the state guarantees freedom of thought, expression, and assembly, which is also stipulated in the Moroccan Constitution.

“The constitution and the law governing media in Morocco prohibit any individual, including members of parliament, who are normally immune from arrest, from criticizing Islam on public platforms, such as print or online media, or in public speeches,” states the report, adding that such offensives are punishable by law.

The Moroccan law additionally penalizes anyone who “employs enticements to undermine the faith or convert a Muslim to another faith by exploiting a weakness or need for assistance, or through the use of educational, health, or other institutions.”

Additional penalties apply to anyone who intentionally interferes with religious rites or celebrations where this causes disturbances or affects the dignity of such religious acts.

Voluntary conversion is not a crime under the law in Morocco, as the report notes, adding that “the law permits the government to expel summarily any noncitizen resident it determines to be a ‘threat to public order,’ and the government has used this clause to expel foreigners suspected of proselytizing.

By law, impeding or preventing one or more persons from worshipping or from attending worship services of any religion is punishable by six months to three years’ imprisonment and a fine.

The report estimates that Moroccans are 99% Sunni Muslims, with less than 0.1% of the population being Shi’a Muslims, while less than 1% are Christian and Jewish.

However, the US State Department noted in its document that “Sunni Muslims and Jews are the only religious groups recognized in the constitution as native to the Kingdom.”

As for converts to Christianity, the document points out that “Morocco’s church authority has indicated that there has been no mention of pressure from authorities on converts to renounce their faith.”

Furthermore, the report’s data is based on the leaders of the Jewish community in Morocco, estimating that there are approximately 2,000 to 3,500 Jews in Morocco, 2,500 of whom live in the city of Casablanca.

As for the Christians, their number would not exceed, at best, 2,000, and they are scattered throughout the country.

The US State Department recalls, in its report, that “Jewish citizens continued to report living and attending services in synagogues in complete safety” and “reported being able to regularly visit religious sites and hold annual commemorations.”