Fouad Mourtada has been released from prison after serving only 25 days of his sentence.

Mourtada, who was arrested on February 5 for impersonating Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco, then sentenced on February 22 to three years in prison and $1,000 fine, has received an outpouring of support from bloggers around the world. Earlier today, I wrote a post for Global Voices Online which highlighted many of Mourtada’s supporters.

I am so happy for Mourtada’s family! His sister has kept in close touch with many bloggers, writing in both French and English and sharing news about Fouad. Although what Fouad did was stupid, he did not deserve his punishment…and now justice has, in a way, been served.

Moroccan Fouad Mourtada has been arrested in Casablanca for creating a false profile on Facebook of a member of Morocco’s royal family.

His family has created a website: Help Fouad, to get his story internationally recognized.

Although this should come as no surprise, I find it absolutely deplorable that anyone be arrested for a mere prank, even if said prank is completely taboo in Morocco - sure, Fouad should’ve known better, but give the guy a break!  Five years in jail, for what?  What will that prove?  That the royal family can’t take a joke?

Morocco is getting dangerously close to the level of censorship its Middle Eastern neighbors (okay, not neighbors per se) practice.  Next thing you know, they’ll be arresting bloggers.

Please post about this, share Fouad’s story, and get this out there for people to read.  Check out Global Voices Advocacy soon for a post on the subject by Sami ben Gharbia.

The Chinese government recently added Morocco to its approved list of countries for Chinese citizens to visit.  132 countries are now approved for the approximately 34 million Chinese who travel abroad each year.

Great, I’m gone from Morocco for less than two weeks and someone tries to blow himself up in Place Hedim (the center of Meknes) - and yet, he failed and didn’t even manage to kill himself. Just like a Moroccan suicide bomber.

Also, there was a minor earthquake, but no one was harmed in that either.

Have you seen this train? Probably not, unless you’re a frequent traveler from Fez. Awhile back, several news sources announced (here’s one clip) that Morocco would be receiving about 24 trains from Italian company Ansaldo Breda, to the tune of about $257 million. The test run was set to go between Fez and Meknes, a 45 minute trip.

Hamza and I tried a few times to secure a ride on this train, as we travel to Fez frequently. And yet, each time we found ourselves on one of Morocco’s old, slow, bumpy traincars. Finally, he realized we’d have to just ask what time the train ran - turns out, 10 am from the main Meknes station (the large one, not the smaller, more popular Amir Abdelkader), stopping in Fez only.

I had the opportunity to ride the train a few weeks ago while a friend was in town - and trust me, it’s even better from the inside. It looks exactly like the trains in the Netherlands, only newer, with two storeys in each section, tray tables on the back of the seat in front of you, and a snack cart with far better sandwiches than the old trains provided. Even the doors are all automatic (a far cry from the old ones, which I usually needed help opening).

Although I wasn’t able to get a picture of the inside of the train (because I was chicken), I did learn some exciting news. About a week after my ride, Cat in Rabat informed me that the train is now running between Meknes and Rabat as well.

The International Journalists’ Network reported this week that the International Federation for Journalists (IFJ), an organization which defends press freedom amongst other activities, has opened an observatory for press freedom in Morocco.  According to IFJ, “the observatory will provide instant and extensive information on events and activities concerning Arab journalists and will publish reports and statistics, commission surveys and undertake studies on all aspects of journalism in the Arab world.”

This is fantastic news, given the events of the past few years - Morocco needs its own watchdog agency!

Read the whole IFJ article here.

Livejournal, one of the early popular blogging/journaling sites, has returned to Morocco! I discovered this by accident today when reading through old entries over at Cat in Rabat’s blog and clicked on the blog link of someone who had left a comment, and - VOILA!

From what I understand, Livejournal was blocked on and off during 2005, then blocked permanently in Feb/March of 2006, only to return, well, very recently.

Unbelievable.  Moroccan authorities just jailed 72 year old activist Mohamed Bougrine for supporting prisoners jailed for “attacking religious values in the Islamic kingdom” (Morocco is not, by title anyhow, an “Islamic kingdom”).

So wait a minute.  This guy, Bougrine, who had been to jail before during the days of the protectorate, is apparently just a supporter of these prisoners…he didn’t actually attack religious values (whatever that means).  So now it’s a crime to have an opinion?

In November 2005, I was traveling to Marrakesh for a conference. A group of us were sitting in first class, we had just passed Rabat, when all of a sudden the train grinded to a halt. Then we sat there on the tracks for two hours without explanation.

As it turned out, some poor stupid kids were throwing rocks at the train, and the conductor got whacked and ended up losing an eye. We had to wait for another one to drive in from Rabat.

It happened again today, but fortunately no one was hurt. Having just returned from the restroom, I was settling down when I heard a “thunk.” Turns out it was yet another stupid bored kid throwing rocks at the train:

The guys smoking cigarettes by the bathroom were a little freaked out, but had managed to avoid the offending rock itself. Two Aussies I ran into on the way off the train thought it was a bullet hole. I reassured them that, despite the rock throwing, Moroccans were smart enough not to allow guns into their country.

A Moroccan toddler had to live with his aunt for two years, apparently because his name, Ahmed Yassine, is similar to that of an alleged terrorist (this was edited for my lack of reading ability). The AP story can be found here, among other places.

I probably shouldn’t say too much about USCIS, but yikes. Once we’re in the States, I’ll comment further.