An appeals court in Fez overturned a conviction against a convert to Christianity from Islam due to lack of evidence. He had been sentenced to 30 months in prison for allegedly recruiting converts. The acquittal took place on Thursday, February 6 and the case is expected to be finalized on Thursday, February 13. The accused, Mohamed El Baladi, 31, was arrested on August 28 in the town of Ain Aicha in Taounate province, about 80 km from Fez, and charged with soliciting converts after accusations that he tried to pressure two young Muslims to convert. Police searched his home and seized several Christian CDs, books and magazines. During the search, they taunted El Baladi for leaving Islam and tried to force him to reveal the names of other converts to Christianity.
It was later revealed that the recruitment charge had come from El Baladi's uncle, who didn't like the fact that he had converted to Christianity. On September 3, the court in Taounate sentenced El Baladi to 30 months in prison and a fine of 1,500 Moroccan dirhams. Human rights groups strongly criticized the sentence because the defendant was denied legal assistance and was fined more than the maximum penalty. The penalty for violating Morocco's penal code is six months to three years in prison and fines of up to 500 dirhams.
El Baladi managed to explain to the court that his conversation with the two young Muslims was not intended to make them convert, but to explain to them the reason why he himself had converted. According to Morocco's penal code, it is forbidden to attempt to "shake a Muslim in the faith or convert him to another religion". However, simply talking about your faith is not usually considered evangelization.
In several Muslim countries, apostasy from Islam is punishable by death and evangelism and recruitment are condemned. But this is not the case in Morocco. According to Morning Star News, an evangelical news channel based in the United States, "a Christian convert who goes quietly rarely gets trouble from anyone but family". However, if a more ardent convert tries to tell others about his faith, he risks being watched by police, especially in rural areas and small towns.
Such a liberal interpretation of Islamic law is quite rare in the Muslim world, but it often causes negative reactions from fundamentalists. In 2012, Morocco's Ulema (Council of Islamic Scholars) issued a fatwa stating that all converts from Islam should be executed. So far, the fatwa has not been followed up. But in recent years, the government has expelled several evangelical Christians from the country after accusing them of trying to recruit converts.
Source: AsiaNews
