Moroccan Christian Group Urges Akhannouch Government to Expand Religious Freedoms

Guarantee basic freedoms. This is the call launched by the coordination of Moroccan Christians to the new executive. It thus calls on the Akhannouch government to allow Christians to name their children with Christian first names, and to be buried in Christian cemeteries, with optional religious education for Moroccan Christians in public educational institutions. It also calls on Aziz Akhannouch to include these "human, necessary and fundamental" demands for Moroccan Christians in the government program.

Morocco has between 20,000 and 25,000 Christians. Among them, foreigners - about 8,000 people, most of whom are Protestants - and Moroccans converted to Christianity. Moroccan Christians had meanwhile expressed their happiness to see the PJD leave power and welcomed the rise of liberal parties, particularly the Rally of Independents (RNI). The latter favor freedom while the Islamists wanted to impose sharia, cover women and remove pork and alcohol from sale, they said.