Case Violates Freedom of Expression, Undercuts Government’s Reformist Image
Morocco is opening up in some respects, but its treatment of Chekib el-Khayari shows that when someone speaks out in ways that truly bother officials, they come down on him like a ton of bricks.
Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch
(New York) - The sentencing today of the human rights activist Chekib el-Khayari to three years in prison is a stark reminder of Morocco's tenuous and uneven progress on human rights, Human Rights Watch said. El-Khayari, who had criticized public officials for alleged complicity in drug-trafficking, was convicted of "gravely insulting state institutions," and of minor violations of regulations governing foreign bank accounts and currency.

CASABLANCA — At first, the conversation I heard between the Moroccan rug dealer and the American tourist sounded typical.“Where are you from?” asked the salesman in Meknes.
“New York,” said the woman.
“But your accent doesn’t sound American,” the salesman said, challenging her. “Where are you really from? I think you are our neighbor.”

The arrival of Western Offshoring Companies , SSII, attracted by Moroccan government incentives, has led to salary inflation of IT expertise in Morocco. Especially because the Government had initially focused its training efforts on the BPO, Business Process Outsourcing, market that is still struggling to take off.
Wage inflation, lack of IT profiles, and difficulty in finding on-site expertise. The opinions of those were interviewed converge: the takeoff of the Kingdom in the off shoring has not proceeded smoothly. In the first case, human resources available are relatively limited. Hence the rush of recruiters that has compounded the arrival of many western SSII, attracted by the incentives put in place by the Moroccan government.

On April 25th of this year, Noredine was visiting the Big Apple from Virginia when he slipped on the wet floor of the subway station at West 49th and 7th ave in Manhattan. He fell into the high voltage railing which caused him major and irreversible damages immediately on impact. Both his feet were amputated.

King Mohammed VI (Photo: UN)

by Brad A. Greenberg
It’s not every day that leader of a Muslim country stands up and draws attention to the horror of the Holocaust—particularly when it is not simply being compared to Israeli treatment of Palestinians. But King Mohammed VI of Morocco said in March at the launch of a Muslim-Jewish dialogue in Fez that:

“We perceive [Yom HaShoah] as a wound to the collective memory, which we know is engraved in one of the most painful chapters in the collective history of mankind. … In its depth as much as in its tragic specificity, this duty of remembrance strongly imposes ethical, moral and political standards which will, tomorrow, be the true guarantors of peace.“

The Moroccan Embassy in Washington in Washington D.C and the "Fondation Hassan II pour les Marocains Résidant a l'Etranger" will select 10 Moroccan children from the USA to participate in its Annual Summer Cultural Program in Morocco along 1,000 other Moroccan children coming from all over the world.

Casablanca (MAP)- The Moroccan Ministry in charge of the Moroccan expatriates (MRE) and Morocco's flag carrier Royal Air Maroc sealed,Monday, a partnership under which Moroccans living abroad will benefit from preferential tariffs.
The tariffs will be set as of this summer to encourage Moroccan expatriates' tourism in the kingdom.
The ministry will also carry out surveys in order to identify the MRE's demands and expectations in this area.

For Mr. Kaplan, the only unfortunate part of being assigned to what some refer to as "the goldmine" of US posts, is the fact that he has to follow in the footsteps of the former US Ambassador to Morocco, Thomas Riley.
Through interviews and news shows as well as personal accounts from countless Americans (living in Morocco) and Moroccans alike, Mr. Riley was more than just an ambassador - he was a motivator, a supporter and a friend to everyone who knew him while he lived in Morocco for over 5 years. 

RUDY BOSCHWITZ, PLYMOUTH
Sam Kaplan is surely to be congratulated if he becomes the U.S. ambassador to Morocco, a significant post in a country with which the United States has long had warm relations. Indeed, the first treaty our country ever negotiated was with Morocco in about 1789. Morocco also has a special Minnesota connection because most of its agronomists during my time as senator were trained at the University of Minnesota. While their role in Middle East matters was nominal (Morocco is a continent away -- more than 3,000 miles - from Jerusalem), King Hassan, during my Senate years, and now his son, the present King Mohammed VI, are direct descendants of the prophet and so are monarchs of special prestige and status. The kings do treat their Jewish minority well. While hardly a "significant" minority as the Star Tribune article states

A soft-spoken slip of a young man, Abdellah Taia hardly looks the part of an iconoclast. But as Morocco's first high-profile, openly gay man, Taia has made it his mission to win acceptance for homosexuals throughout the Muslim world.
Taia has defied Moroccan society's don't-ask, don't-tell attitude toward homosexuality — and prison sentences that are still on the books in the North African kingdom — to write five autobiographical novels about growing up poor and gay in the northern coastal city of Sale.
The novels, peppered with sexually explicit passages, have catapulted him to fame in his native country and made him the de-facto poster child of its budding gay rights movement.
His work has sparked harsh criticism. Taia said some outraged critics have called on him to renounce Moroccan citizenship so as "not to bring shame" on the country.

Thanks to all people who sympathized with me in this humiliation. Actually, the experience of being refused one’s newborn’s name by the Civil Registry services in one's own homeland is indescribable, especially when you find out that a citizen like you has just registered his newborn (Saàd) meanwhile yours is rejected. Therefore you feel that you are not like the others (who chose an Arab names). You understand that your status is lower than that of other citizens, you feel like the lowest and the most wretched creature on earth. I am not the first or the last to endure this absurd banning.

 The European Commission on Thursday named and shamed few airlines for failing to address concerns about misleading customers over website ticket prices.
The EU's aviation blacklist for online ticket sales included Royal Air Maroc which failed to respond to the commission's 18-month crackdown into misleading claims on airline and air ticket websites in 15 EU countries plus Norway.  "This is not just a signal that they have some problems, it is a signal that these companies do not care too much to reply to the consumers' concerns," EU Consumer Protection Commissioner Meglena Kuneva told a press conference.