Morocco jails German for trying to convert Muslims
Reuters
Wednesday, November 29, 2006; 12:40 PM
RABAT (Reuters) – A Moroccan court jailed a German tourist for six months for attempting to convert Muslims in the southern resort of Agadir, officials said on Wednesday.
The court in Agadir, Morocco’s main tourist destination, found the 64-year-old man guilty of trying to “shake the faith of a Muslim,” they added.
The court also fined him 500 dirhams ($60) in its verdict issued late on Tuesday.
Court officials named the German of Egyptian origin as Sadek Noshi Yassa, who was arrested last week as he was distributing books and CDs about the Christian faith to young Muslim Moroccans in the street, the officials said.
Under Moroccan law “anyone who employs incitements to shake the faith of a Muslim or to convert him to another religion” can be jailed for up to six months and fined.
The verdict came after local media reports that some Christians had launched a clandestine campaign to convert thousands of Muslim Moroccans to Christianity.
There are about 20,000 expatriate Christians in Morocco, most of them living in Rabat and Casablanca, according to estimates by European diplomats.