Yesterday, May 18, the Moroccan rapper Al Haqed (Mouad Belghouat) and a group of his friends approached by police while about to enter the Casablanca soccer stadium to see a match. The cops targeted Al Haqed, accused him of buying tickets on the black market, and proceeded to beat up him and his brother.
According to the blog of Zineb Belmkaddem, the source for this information, the day before Al Haqed put up a post on Facebook "mocking the fact that the King was going to perform Friday’s Jumuah prayer, and on his way there, a traditional music group was playing. In Islam, this would be highly disrespectful given the spiritual solemnity of Jumuah prayer, and an even bigger mistake to be made by the ‘Commander of the Faithful’ who claims part of the legitimacy of his rule from his religious status."
Who knows whether the arrest is linked to the post, but it no doubt has everything to do with the fact that Al Haqed refuses to shut up about the repressive acts of the Moroccan government, the makhzen.
Al Haqed was supposed to appear before a judge today.
I've posted about Al Haqed and his problems with the Moroccan authorities a few times in the past. And I've also ranted about the fact that Pussy Riot gets so much support and attention in the West, and especially from US artists, while almost no one seems to care about Al Haqed. Consider this another rant.
Videos of Al Haqed's most famous song "Klab al-dawla" or "The Dogs of the State" keep getting shut down. Here's another link to it.
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