RABAT - The trial of a spokeswoman for Morocco's Islamist movement accused of "an attack on the monarchy" opened Tuesday with hundreds of Islamist protestors outside the courthouse in the capital Rabat.
Nadia Yassine, daughter of the head of Morocco's leading Islamist association, Al-Adl Wal-Ihssane (Justice and Welfare), has been charged with lese-majesty, along with Abdelaziz Koukas, the editor of a weekly newspaper.
The editor earlier this month published Yassine's statement saying that "personally" she would prefer a republican rather than an "autocratic" regime.
About 400 people staged a peaceful demonstration to show support for the Islamist spokeswoman who if found guilty could be sentenced from three to five years in prison and fined up to 100,000 dirhams (9,000 euros).
Yassine's court appearance has aroused fears that a conviction would anger Morocco's Islamist movement, unrecognized by authorities but still influential, which has always preached non-violence.
The movement could be brought into open conflict with Moroccan King Mohammed VI, who is a descendant of Islam's founder, the Prophet Mohamed, and enjoys wide powers.
Yassine said that she had only given her personal opinion, adding, "I did not call on people to take action for a republic."
But pro-government newspapers ripped into her, with Le Matin du Sahara saying "she is known for her off-the-cuff statements and her radical stances but she has never gone so far in her denigration and attacks on the sacred institutions of the kingdom."
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