Members of Moroccan Muslim group sacked from govt posts

By Khaled Majdoub

RABAT (AA) - Morocco’s Al-Adl Wal-Ihsane (“Justice and Benevolence”) Islamic movement said Tuesday that several of its members had recently been dismissed from mosques at which they had worked as preachers.

"The authorities have recently dismissed four imams from their respective mosques due to their affiliation with the group," leading group member Hassan Bennajeh told Anadolu Agency.

“A total of 130 people have been dismissed from their government posts since February due to their affiliation with Al-Adl Wal-Ihsane,” he asserted.

According to Bennajeh, Moroccan activists had set up a committee “tasked with supporting individuals affected by the dismissals”.

There has been no immediate comment from the Moroccan authorities regarding the assertions.

In a February statement, Al-Adl Wal-Ihsane had said that “dozens” of group-affiliated officials had been dismissed “from numerous government departments and ministries”.

The dismissal campaign, the group asserted, “has targeted government sectors and ministries countrywide, affecting dozens of officials, engineers, school managers and inspectors”.

“The common denominator,” the statement added, “was affiliation with our group."

Officially banned by the government, Al-Adl Wal-Ihsane was founded in the 1970s by Cheikh Abdesslam Yassine.

Staunchly opposed to Morocco’s ruling monarchy, the group calls for the country’s peaceful transformation into an Islamic state.