Dutch national television news' NOS-Journaal has reported that the new king of Morocco, Sidi Moulay Mohammed (Mohammed VI), is gay, according to the Dutch newspaper De Gay Krant.
The report has led to weekly anti-media demonstrations in the city of
Utrecht, which has a large Moroccan population and is 15 kilometers from
the TV network's head
Mohammed, 36, went to college in Brussels, Belgium, and regularly hung
out in gay bars there, De Gay Krant said. And his homosexuality is "common
knowledge" in Moroccan intellectual circles, Marrakech resident Tony Flavel
told the newspaper.
"But you better not talk about it," he said. "The police and the armed forces are against the new king for precisely this reason. They would prefer his younger straight brother, Moulay Rashid."
NOS-Journaal Editor-in-Chief Hans Brom told De Gay Krant that the program's journalists are sure of their facts.
"The truth cannot be rectified," he said "Our correspondent, Robbert Bosschard, spoke with the chief of police and the commander-in-chief of the Moroccan army. They were convinced that the new king is gay and they were afraid of the future under a homosexual monarch."
Gay sex is banned in Morocco by Article 489 of the Penal Code. The punishment is up to three years in jail and a fine of up to 1200 dirham (US$122).
3/6/1999 - Planet Out
"Plain Bread," a noted autobiographical novel by Moroccan Muhammed Choukri, has been dropped from the curriculum of the American University of Cairo for "indecency" because of its descriptions of his homosexual experiences, according to the "Al-Wafd" newspaper. Although the institution is privately-run, the withdrawal was announced to the parliament this week by Egypt's minister of higher education Mufid Shihab, who said that, "Egypt allows free thinking but rejects violations of its values and traditions." Despite some student complaints, the university will be establishing a committee to review books before they are taught there.