ICC Note: A Moroccan appeals court heard the case of a Christian who was sentenced to 30 months in prison on charges of proselytizing and inducing Muslims to convert from Islam. Mohamed El Baladi was convicted in an unusually speedy trial, and denied legal representation. He was able to secure lawyers for his appeal and is now awaiting a final ruling, expected to be delivered on February 6.
12/27/13 Morocco (Morning Star News) – A Moroccan appeals court on Thursday (Dec. 26) heard arguments for a Christian convert from Islam hastily sentenced to prison for alleged “proselytizing,” sources said.
The Court of Appeal in Fez is expected to deliver a ruling on Feb. 6.
Mohamed El Baladi was sentenced to 30 months in prison on Sept. 3, just a week after his arrest on Aug. 28, in a court in the northern town of Taounate, 50 miles from Fez. Unlike that occasion, when the court convicted him before police allowed him to obtain legal representation, several defense lawyers were on hand yesterday at the hearing.
Authorities on Sept. 26 released him from prison after international outcry over his conviction. El Baladi, 31, was charged with inducing young Muslims to convert, punishable by six months to three years in prison and a fine of up to 500 dirhams (US$60), according to Article 220 of Morocco’s penal code. El Baladi’s fine of 1,500 dirhams exceeded the maximum, and police also took 5,000 dirhams from his home during the raid, a source said.
Police in the remote town of Ain Aicha, Taounate Province, arrested him for alleged proselytizing, vilified him for leaving Islam and pressured him to reveal names of other converts to Christianity, sources said (see Morning Star News, Sept. 13). Strict sharia (Islamic law) condemns apostates from Islam to death.
Mohamed Oulad Ayad of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights reportedly said he hopes the sentence will be reduced to a one-month suspended sentence and fine of no more than 500 dirhams.
Human rights advocates say El Baladi’s conviction and sentencing violated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Algeria is a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which implements provisions of the UDHR.
Along with the 5,000 dirhams police stole, gendarmerie also seized several Christian CDs, books and magazines, sources said.
…
[Full Story]