King Mohammed VI Grants Pardon to 742 Detainees on Prophet’s Birthday

The King of Morocco presiding over a religious ceremony in Rabat. (MAP)
The King of Morocco presiding over a religious ceremony in Rabat. (MAP)
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King Mohammed VI Grants Pardon to 742 Detainees on Prophet’s Birthday

The King of Morocco presiding over a religious ceremony in Rabat. (MAP)
The King of Morocco presiding over a religious ceremony in Rabat. (MAP)

Marking Prophet’s birthday, King Mohammed VI has granted pardon to 742 detainees, sentenced by various courts across the country, according to a press release from the Ministry of Justice.

Beneficiaries of the Royal Pardon in detention amount to 528 detainees, including 22 convicts who benefited from pardon over their remaining prison terms.

About 503 detainees had their prison sentence commuted, while 3 detainees saw their life imprisonment commuted to a fixed-term sentence.

Beneficiaries of the Royal Pardon who are free amount to 214, including 50 inmates that benefited from pardon over their prison sentence or its remainder.

The number also includes 8 people who benefited from pardon over their prison sentence with their fines maintained.

This category also features 146 people who saw their fines annulled, while nine others saw both their prison and fine sentences annulled.

One person benefited from pardon over the remainder of their prison term and had their fine annulled.

King Mohammed VI presided over a religious ceremony on Wednesday evening at the Hassan Mosque in Rabat, in commemoration of Prophet’s birthday. The Sovereign was accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, Prince Moulay Rachid, Prince Moulay Ahmed, and Prince Moulay Ismail.

The Minister of Endowments and Islamic Affairs, Ahmed Toufiq, presented the report on the activities of the Ulemas of the Supreme Council and local councils, before handing over the report to the Sovereign.

Toufiq also assured that the scholars, through their main task of “Tabligh” or communication, are working to establish a sound methodology based on their rich experience.

Subsequently, the King awarded the Mohammed VI Prize for Islamic Thought and to Ibrahim Id Ibrahim from the city of Agadir. This prize is awarded annually to reward eminent scientific personalities and encourage them to conduct research in the field of Islamic studies, in accordance with the teachings of the noble Sharia, which advocates the pursuit of knowledge and encourages its beneficial use.

The King was then greeted by Hamza Sabou from the city of Tangier, who received the International Mohammed VI Prize for Memorization, Recitation, and Exegesis of the Holy Quran from the Sovereign.

The Sovereign also presented the International Mohammed VI Prize for Quranic Recitation with Memorization of five Hizbs to Omar Ben Abdelaziz El Baridi from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.



Officials: US Will Remove Gaza Aid Pier and May Not Put it Back

A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
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Officials: US Will Remove Gaza Aid Pier and May Not Put it Back

A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
A US soldier inspects Gaza aid on a truck before entering a US ship at the port of Larnaca, Cyprus, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

The pier built by the US military to bring aid to Gaza has been removed due to weather to protect it, and the US is considering not re-installing it unless the aid begins flowing out into the population again, several US officials said Friday.

While the military has helped deliver desperately needed food through the pier, the vast majority of it is still sitting in the adjacent storage yard because of the difficulty that agencies have had moving it to areas in Gaza where it is most needed, and that storage area is almost full.

The pier has been used to get more than 19.4 million pounds, or 8.6 million kilograms, of food into Gaza but has faced multiple setbacks. Rough seas damaged the pier just days into its initial operations, forcing the military to remove it temporarily for repairs and then reinstall it.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements, said the military could reinstall the pier once the bad weather passes in the coming days, but the final decision on whether to reinstall it hasn’t been made.

Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokeswoman, acknowledged that she doesn't know when the pier will be reinstalled.

She also said Friday that there is a need for more aid to come into Cyprus and be transported to the pier. She noted that the secure area onshore is “pretty close to full,” but that the intention is still to get aid into Gaza by all means necessary. She said the US is having discussions with the aid agencies about the distribution of the food.

The big challenge has been that humanitarian convoys have stopped carrying the aid from the pier’s storage area further into Gaza, to get it into civilian hands, because they have come under attack.

The UN, which has the widest reach in delivering aid to starving Palestinians, on June 9 paused the distribution of food and other emergency supplies that had arrived through the pier. The pause came after the Israeli military used an area near the pier to fly out rescued hostages after a raid that killed more than 270 Palestinians, prompting a UN security review over concerns that aid workers’ safety and neutrality may have compromised.