Morocco

Morocco 🇲🇦 is an African nation that primarily worships Islam. Most of its territory was previously under a French protectorate. It also occupies much of Western Sahara with de facto control west of the Berm. The Moroccan claims of the Spanish enclave cities of Ceuta and Melilla are not recognised internationally.

Book censorship

• Nichane - On 20 December 2006, then Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou issued a statement prohibiting thus the diffusion and distribution of this satirical magazine, as a result of the publishing of "provocative jokes" related to religion, and the late King of Morocco, Hassan II (the latter constituting an infraction of a lèse-majesté crime). Then, in December 2009, police destroyed 100,000 copies of the magazine after it printed an unauthorized opinion poll of Moroccan King Mohammed VI. Finally, In October 2010, publisher Ahmed Benchemsi announced the closure of the magazine, citing an advertiser boycott by royally-owned ONA/SNI holding group.
• Notre ami le roi - This biography of King Hassan II of Morocco written by Gilles Perrault was banned in Morocco for which examines cases of torture, killing, and political imprisonment. The ban was said to be carried out by the Moroccan Government at the King's orders.
• Le roi prédateur - this investigative journalism book written by Catherine Graciet and Eric Laurent was banned in Morocco. This book makes allegedly "defamatory" accusations of corruption against King Mohammed VI of Morocco, after investigating the exponential growth of his wealth.

Internet censorship

In its Freedom on the Net 2013, Freedom House reports that between May 2012 and April 2013:

• Filtering of numerous websites and online tools was lifted as the government introduced liberalizing measures to counter rising discontent heightened by the events of the Arab Spring;
• Restrictive press and national security laws applied to online media sites lead to self-censorship.
• Several online users were arrested for comments and videos posted to Facebook, YouTube, and blogs.

In 2009 Internet access in Morocco was, for the most part, open and unrestricted. Morocco's Internet filtration regime was relatively light and focused on a few blog sites, a few highly visible anonymizers, and for a brief period in May 2007, the video sharing website YouTube. Testing by the OpenNet Initiative revealed that Morocco no longer filters a majority of sites in favor of independence of the Western Sahara, which were previously blocked. The filtration regime is not comprehensive, that is to say, similar content can be found on other websites that are not blocked. On the other hand, Morocco has started to prosecute Internet users and bloggers for their online activities and writings.

As there have been no judiciary decisions one can only speculate about the reasons sites are blocked. However, some patterns emerge and it seems that the blocked sites are often related to the Polisario movement claiming independence of Western Sahara, to Islamist extremists and fundamentalists, to carrying non-official or subversive information about King Mohammed VI such as parodic videos in YouTube. Morocco also blocked some sites that facilitate circumvention of Internet censorship.

Blocked websites

• Lakome.com - both the Arabic and French versions of the site were closed down in Morocco on 17 October 2013.

Movie censorship

• Paths of Glory - this film was banned in 1957 for its antimilitarist themes.

Television censorship

• Tom and Jerry - The short Tot Watchers (1958) was banned due to the arrest of Tom & Jerry that associates interrogation with the police, and child’s victory.
• Magical DoReMi - Any show that is a magical girl anime would not be allowed on television in Morocco due to these shows being viewed as Zionist shows. This show was banned after Season 3, along with other magical girl shows like Sugar Sugar Rune, Lyrical Nanoha and Puella Magi Madoka Magica.

External links

• Censorship in Morocco at Wikipedia