A number of activists, representing religious minorities in Morocco will hold a national conference on Saturday 18th of November to voice their demands and worries. During the event, they are set to discuss freedom of worship in the kingdom and put forward a set of recommendations to secure their rights.
For the first time in Morocco’s history, religious minorities in Rabat will gather to demand their right of practicing their faith freely. A courageous step that comes a few months after, the National Human Rights Council helped pave the way.
The Baha’i faith is a religion that was established by Bahá'u'lláh in 1863 gathering the essential teachings of all religions and the unity and equality of all people. In October, followers of the Bahá'í faith in Morocco gathered to celebrate two important occasions according to their beliefs, namely the 200th anniversary of the Baha’i founder on the 22nd of October and the birth of Hazrat al-Bab, who proclaimed the status of
16 years after the deadly 9/11 attacks, Muslims and Arabs are still looked at in a different way. According to the Council of American Islamic relations, Islamophobia and hate crimes have been on the rise since then. On the 11th of September 2017, two Moroccan nationals who lived in New York during the attacks spoke to Yabiladi about their experiences.
Morocco is still one of the countries that restrict freedom faith, according to the recent International Religious Freedom report issued by the USA Department of State. Despite the Kingdom’s constitution that guarantees the right to believe, Moroccan Christians, Bahais and Shias are repressed and unable to practice their faith freely.