Morocco
Magazine’s international edition bannedPosted Dec 17 2008
Morocco banned distribution of the international edition of the French magazine L'Express on Oct. 31 because of a report published the day before. Three days later, Algeria and Tunisia followed suit in banning the Oct. 30- Nov. 5 edition, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The report, titled “The Jesus-Mohammed Shock,” was declared an “insult to Islam” by Moroccan authorities. Inspired by a book by the magazine's managing editor, Christian Makarian, the articles presented portraits of the two religious founders, reports the Arab media Web site Menassat.
The report was published the same week that Pope Benedict XVI held a meeting in Rome between Muslim and Catholic dignitaries. Both the meeting and the L'Express report were meant to foster interfaith dialogue.
“In respect to the religious sensitivity of our Moroccan readers, we took care to conceive a cover specially dedicated to the international edition, with the face of Mohammed being veiled in conformity to Islam's customs,” Makarian told Menassat. “The image used is issued from an
Ottoman manuscript of the 16th century and was not modified. Despite this special attention which shows our respect to the Moroccan public and Islam, we were banned. I don't understand.”
Governments banning the edition did not call attention to specific features of the report.