Nichane (formerly Aljareeda Alokhra) was a Moroccan

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...

 weekly arabophone and darijophone

Moroccan Arabic

Moroccan Arabic is the variety of Arabic spoken in the Arabic-speaking areas of Morocco. For official communications, the government and other public bodies use Modern Standard Arabic, as is the case in most Arabic-speaking countries. A mixture of French and Moroccan Arabic is used in business...

 (in Moroccan Arabic) magazine

Magazine

Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

. It was a sister publication of the French-language

French language

French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 Tel Quel

Tel Quel (Morocco)

TelQuel , is a French-language Moroccan weekly magazine. It is privately owned, and is known for its resolute opposition to Islamist ideology in Morocco...

 magazine and published from September 2006 to October 2010.

Its editor-in-chief was Driss Ksikes

Driss Ksikes

Driss Ksikes is a Moroccan journalist. He was a former editor-in-chief of the francophone Tel Quel magazine. In 2006 , he left TelQuel to be the editor-in-chief and director of publication of the arabophone and darijophone Nichane magazine...

.

Censorship

On December 20, 2006, Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou

Driss Jettou

-Early life and education:Jettou was born in the town of El-Jadida. After secondary studies at El Khawarizmi college in Casablanca, he obtained a technical Baccalauréat in mathematics in 1964. He then joined the Faculty of Sciences of Rabat where he graduated in physics and chemistry in 1966...

 issued a statement prohibiting thus the diffusion and distribution of Nichane. This prohibition came as a result of the publishing of "provocative jokes" related to religion, and the late King of Morocco, Hassan II.

Driss Ksikes

Driss Ksikes

Driss Ksikes is a Moroccan journalist. He was a former editor-in-chief of the francophone Tel Quel magazine. In 2006 , he left TelQuel to be the editor-in-chief and director of publication of the arabophone and darijophone Nichane magazine...

 and another journalist, Sanaa al-Aji, were prosecuted for "defaming Islam and damaging morality" and sentenced to fines of 80,000 dirhams each and three-year suspended sentences. Additionally, the magazine was banned for two months. Both journalists defended their article.

In December 2009, police destroyed 100,000 copies of the magazine after it printed an unauthorized opinion poll of Moroccan King Mohammed VI.

In October 2010, publisher Ahmed Benchemsi

Ahmed Benchemsi

Ahmed Benchemsi is a Moroccan journalist.He is the founder and was the publisher and editor of TelQuel and Nishan magazines.- Education :Benchemsi attended high school in Casablanca. He spent his freshman years in Rabat’s Mohammed V University, before joining Paris 8 University, from which he...

announced the closure of the magazine, citing an advertiser boycott by royally-owned ONA/SNI holding group.