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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHCL #0019/01 0401443
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 091443Z FEB 10
FM AMCONSUL CASABLANCA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8629
INFO RUCNMGH/MAGHREB COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L CASABLANCA 000019 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NEA/MAG AND DRL/IRF 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/09/2020 
TAGS: KIRF PGOV PHUM MO
SUBJECT: MOROCCAN CHRISTIANS COMPLAIN OF GOVERNMENT 
CRACKDOWN 
 
REF: A. 09 CASABLANCA 228 
     ¶B. 09 RABAT 336 
 
Classified By: Consul General Elisabeth Millard for Reasons 1.4 (b) 
and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Government of Morocco (GOM) security 
forces raided a meeting of 11 Moroccan Christian 
converts and one American Citizen (AMCIT) in a rural 
village south of Marrakech on February 4.  The 
police temporarily detained the Moroccans, expelled 
the AMCIT and confiscated their computers, bibles, 
and other religious materials.  This is the third 
such incident involving a raid on a meeting of 
Moroccan Christians and the expulsion of a foreigner 
for alleged proselytizing activities in the past 
year and highlights GOM's increasing sensitivity to 
this issue.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (C) On February 4 at 1400 hours a substantial 
group of gendarmes raided a house in the village of 
Amizmiz in the High Atlas Mountains about 56 
kilometers south of the city of Marrakech. 
According to Abdellatif El Hamidi, a Moroccan 
Christian convert present at the house, more than 50 
gendarmes, including a colonel from Rabat and two 
captains from Marrakech, participated in the raid. 
Hamidi claimed there were 16 Moroccan Christians 
present (including five young children), two 
Moroccan Muslims, and an AMCIT.  The two Muslims 
present were the elderly mother of two of the 
Christians and the sixteen-year old nephew of 
Hamidi. 
 
¶3. (C) The gendarmes allegedly confiscated 
computers, cell phones, digital cameras and 
religious material including bibles.  The security 
forces brought the people to the gendarme station in 
Tahanaoute where they were held until 0400 hours the 
following morning.  The Moroccans were then released 
without charges but their possessions remained in 
police custody.  The AMCIT was eventually 
transported to Casablanca airport before being 
expelled on February 7 at 0200 hours on a flight to 
Frankfurt.  The GOM afforded the AMCIT access to 
consular services and the US Consulate's ACS Officer 
was in contact with him during the time it took to 
arrange for a departure ticket. 
 
¶4. (C) According to Hamidi, the Christian group was 
held for an extended period of time because the 
gendarme colonel from Rabat allegedly was waiting 
for approval for their release from the new Minister 
of Justice Mohammed Naciri.  Hamidi also alleged 
that he and others were interrogated and subject to 
veiled threats by a non-uniformed member of 
Morocco's internal intelligence service, the 
Direction de la Surveillance du Territoire (DST), 
for their religious activities. 
 
¶5. (C) The GOM quickly published details of the 
incident framing it as the expulsion of an AMCIT 
illegally engaged in proselytizing activities. 
Hamidi and other Moroccan Christians argued in 
conversations with PolOff that the police raid, like 
the recent ones in Saadia (Ref A) and Casablanca 
(Ref B), were an attack on their religious 
activities and only involved those already of the 
Christian faith.  They stressed that none of the 
participants were involved in proselytizing.  Hamidi 
also informed PolOff that the house used in Amizmiz 
belongs to an American couple, who have lived in 
Amizmiz for nearly decade and lent the house to 
Hamidi for this express purpose.  Hamidi said that 
the American family is out of Morocco at the moment 
and expressed concern that the GOM may prevent them 
from returning to Morocco. 
 
¶6. (C) In a separate meeting, Abdellatif Banhamou 
and Hmami Zouhair, leaders of the Moroccan 
Christians in Casablanca, told Poloff they believed 
the GOM is seeking to isolate them from any foreign 
contact.  They recounted incidents of GOM officials 
putting pressure and harassing family members and 
employers of Moroccan Christians to entice them to 
renounce their beliefs.  They argued that Moroccan 
Christian community meetings with foreign religious 
instructors have been commonplace for years but that 
in the last 12 months the GOM has been breaking up 
 
these meetings and expelling the foreigners. 
 
¶7. (C) COMMENT: The GOM is increasingly sensitive to 
the activities of the small domestic Christian 
community, especially when a foreigner is involved. 
The authorities have been careful to not prosecute 
any of their nationals while simultaneously sending 
indirect warnings to the established expatriate 
Christian groups in Morocco to tread lightly in 
their dealings with Moroccan nationals (Ref B). 
This is the third such raid in the past year.  We 
believe it is a clear indication of the GOM's 
decisions to crack down on what it perceives to be 
the threat of foreign proselytizing. 
 
MILLARD