Attajdid
Encyclopedia
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
newspaper, of a generally Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
stance with close ties with Justice and Development Party
Justice and Development Party (Morocco)
The Justice and Development Party is the largest opposition political party in Morocco. The PJD advocates Islamism and Islamic democracy.-History:...
.
Controversy
On January 6, 2005, Attajdid published an article by its editor-in-chief Lhassan Sarrat that the deadly 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake2004 Indian Ocean earthquake
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on Sunday, December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake...
and ensuing tsunami
Tsunami
A tsunami is a series of water waves caused by the displacement of a large volume of a body of water, typically an ocean or a large lake...
was God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
's punishment for sex tourism
Sex tourism
Sex tourism is travel to engage in sexual activity with prostitutes.The World Tourism Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations, defines sex tourism as "trips organized from within the tourism sector, or from outside this sector but using its structures and networks, with the primary...
, homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
and child trafficking in southeast Asia, and that the best warning system for such catastrophes was following the teaching of Islam. They stated that Morocco was the next destination for this "tourism of debauchery". This statement attracted considerable controversy and opposition. http://fr.news.yahoo.com/050114/5/47yow.htmlhttp://www.emarrakech.info/index.php?action=article&id_article=110422http://www.jeuneafrique.com/gabarits/articleAFP_online.asp?art_cle=AFP84815tsunaenivid0 http://www.menara.ma/Infos/includes/detail.asp?article_id=4745&lmodule=Maroc The newspaper then distanced itself from the article; director Abdelilah Benkirane
Abdelilah Benkirane
Abdelilah Benkirane is a Moroccan politician and leader of the Justice and Development Party. His party won a plurality of seats in the November 2011 parliamentary election, and he was appointed Prime Minister of Morocco on 29 November 2011.He has represented Salé in the Moroccan parliament since...
declared that the article represented only the opinion of its author.