SHAFAQNA– A Moroccan human rights group in its latest report has criticized the legal conditions for the followers of Shia faith and requested official permission to enable them hold religious ceremonies in their Husseiniyas (religious halls).
In its 2018 annual report, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (OMDH) has added that despite being members of one of the official Muslim faiths, the conditions of Shia Moroccans is no better than Christian Moroccans and they are denied of their right to stage religious rituals.
The OMDH says acts of incitement and hatred against the Shia persists in Morocco to the degree that no Shia Muslim is allowed to be elected as a lawmaker at the parliament. The rights group notes the situation is part of an organized campaign aimed at “preserving Morocco’s religious and spiritual security” against what the state calls “the danger of the Shiism”. According to the group, spreading hatred and violence against the Shia community runs against the Article 23 of the North African country’s Constitution.
The report by the Moroccan Association for Human Rights indicates state officials are treating the Shia Muslims with suspicion. It adds although there is no official data about the number of Shia Moroccans and cites the US State Department Report on International Religious Freedom as suggesting the number of people who shift from other Sunni sects to Shia Islam in Morocco is on the rise.
This text originally published by ar.lesiteinfo.com and Shafaqna Farsi and translated by Shafaqna English.
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