Moroccan Christians Appeal to Pope Francis Ahead of Visit, Citing Religious Persecution

For the unrecognized committee of Moroccan Christians by the public authorities, some of its members are victims of violations of their rights to religious freedom and are asking Pope Francis to engage in dialogue with the Moroccan authorities, reports the newspaper Al Massae.

This association goes further by accusing the security services of having arrested and mistreated followers for participating in prayers in clandestine churches, evoking torture, insults and withdrawal of their identity documents. Furthermore, the members of this association protest against the expulsion by the authorities of many foreigners on suspicion of "proselytism".

The complaints also concern other beliefs, citing the example of 2017 and the ban by the authorities on the commemoration by the Baha’is of the anniversary of their prophet, particularly in Meknes or Tangier.

It should be noted that in Morocco, hot and cold are blown on people accused of proselytism, but the decision recently handed down by the Taza court will probably set a precedent. In this case, a man accused of proselytism was acquitted because the judges considered that "the distribution of Christian bibles and religious works does not shake the Muslim faith". The latter risked a sentence of up to three years in prison according to the Moroccan penal code.