Morocco accuses El País of 'attacking monarchy' in cartoons

Posted by Jennifer Lush on October 28, 2009 at 3:44 PM

Morocco blocked the distribution of El País on Saturday after the Spanish daily reproduced two cartoons considered to "undermine the institution of the monarchy," reports AFP.

The first image, by French cartoonist, Jean Plantu, was originally printed in Le Monde last Thursday, and depicts 'a hand reaching out of a Moroccan flag to create a child-like drawing of a funny face wearing a crown'. The cartoon also resulted in a ban on distribution of Le Monde in Morocco on both Thursday and Friday.

The second sketch was initially published by Moroccan paper Akhbar al Yaoum Casablanca in September by local cartoonist, Gueddar Khalid. The image alluded to the recent marriage of Moroccan Prince Moulay Ismail, a cousin of King Mohammed VI, to a German convert to Islam.

"We have no problem with any Spanish newspaper, but will not allow El País, as we did not allow Le Monde, to violate the Moroccan monarchy," said government spokesman, Khalid Naciri. "The role of the press is not to provoke," said the minister, adding that: "We do not force anyone to love this country, but to respect it."

The Federation of Journalists in Spain (FAPE) released a statement on Monday saying that it "deplored the veto imposed by the Moroccan communications ministry to the dissemination and distribution of the newspaper El País. "

FAPE asked the Moroccan government to recall that Spain is a country that enjoys a free media whose purpose is to inform, and urged the neighboring country to change its "restrictive approach" to the media.

"Such attitudes seriously threaten the pluralism of information in Morocco," stressed FAPE, which represents more than 14,500 journalists.

Despite the banning of the print edition, the cartoons remained accessible to Morrocans via the paper's website elpais.es.

Source: El País, AFP