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Morocco Reopens more Mosques, Allows Friday Prayer

A teacher wearing face mask while teaching in a school in Casablanca in October 5, 2020. AP
A teacher wearing face mask while teaching in a school in Casablanca in October 5, 2020. AP
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Morocco Reopens more Mosques, Allows Friday Prayer

A teacher wearing face mask while teaching in a school in Casablanca in October 5, 2020. AP
A teacher wearing face mask while teaching in a school in Casablanca in October 5, 2020. AP

Morocco’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs announced on Tuesday the decision to increase the number of mosques to be reopened to 10,000.

It allowed these mosques to host the five daily prayers, as well as Friday sermons and prayers, effective on Friday.

The ministry stated that it will do all what is necessary to make this process a success and follow up the developments in coordination with the competent authorities.

It stressed that it will take into consideration the same preventive measures taken in mosques that have previously opened for the five daily prayers.

Moroccan community bodies had launched an appeal to open more mosques and hold Friday prayers.

They criticized the “continued closure of most mosques and the suspension of Friday prayers” while official institutions, markets, laboratories, administrations, universities and schools have been reopened.

Only 5,000 mosques out of over 50,000 across Morocco have been opened since July 15.

Initially, the 5,000 mosques were not open for Friday prayers in order to avoid COVID-19 transmission among worshippers.

The decision to re-open 5,000 mosques in July was part of Morocco’s gradual lockdown easing strategy and included a set of safety conditions.

According to these conditions, worshippers shall take with them plastic bags to put their shoes in when they are inside the mosque, wear masks outside and inside the mosque, bring their own prayer mat and respect social distancing guidelines.

The rate of coronavirus infections in Morocco has relatively decreased in the past 24 hours.

The Health Ministry announced on Monday 1,357 new COVID-19 infections, taking the tally since the virus first appeared in the country on March 2 to 153,761.

The number of recoveries increased to 129,498, while the death toll rose by 31 to 2,636, the Ministry added in a statement.

It said 464 patients are in intensive care units.

The COVID-19 fatality rate in Morocco stands at 1.7 percent and the current recovery rate is 84.2 percent, the ministry added.

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Türkiye Again Refuses Inspection of One of its Ships Heading to Libya

IRINI said Türkiye on Sunday rejected a request to inspect the ship “MV MATILDE A”. (MarineTraffic)
IRINI said Türkiye on Sunday rejected a request to inspect the ship “MV MATILDE A”. (MarineTraffic)
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Türkiye Again Refuses Inspection of One of its Ships Heading to Libya

IRINI said Türkiye on Sunday rejected a request to inspect the ship “MV MATILDE A”. (MarineTraffic)
IRINI said Türkiye on Sunday rejected a request to inspect the ship “MV MATILDE A”. (MarineTraffic)

Türkiye again refused to allow the European Maritime Operation IRINI team to inspect one of its ships heading to Libya.

“Türkiye on Sunday again rejected a request to inspect the ship MV MATILDE A in accordance with Security Council Resolution No. 2292/2016 on the arms embargo on Libya,” IRINI wrote on its official X account.

The operation was launched on March 31, 2020 following the first Berlin Conference on Libya. It was mandated by the European Council to carry out as its core task the implementation of the UN arms embargo on Libya in resolution 2292 of 2016 and resolution 2526 of 2020, which are binding for all EU Member States, including Türkiye.

This is the 12th time that Ankara has prevented an IRINI team from boarding a merchant ship. Türkiye blames IRINI of besieging the interim Government of National Unity (GNU) in Tripoli.

The operation had shared dozens of special reports with the UN Panel of Experts on Libya. Most of these reports referred to violations or possible violations of the arms embargo and oil smuggling activities in the west and in the east of the country.

Since the launch of the maritime mission, Türkiye has rejected operation IRINI, describing it as biased and of working for the benefit of the Sudanese Army.

On several occasions, Ankara has clashed with IRINI teams because of their insistence to inspect Turkish ships heading to Libya on suspicion that they were carrying weapons to the former Government of National Accord (GNA), headed by Fayez al-Sarraj and then the current GNU, headed by Abdulhamid Al-Dbeibah.

Since the beginning of operation, IRINI has examined more than 1,000 suspected ships through information via radio calls. It also carried more than 500 visits with the captain’s approval to more than 500 merchant ships and inspected several suspicious flights.

The operation aims to counter illicit arms trafficking, supporting the implementation of the arms embargo on Libya based on the relevant UN Security Council resolutions, to gather intelligence on oil smuggling, in particular its impact on the Libyan economy and its possible use to finance the arms market; to contribute to the disruption of the business model of migrant smuggling by gathering intelligence by air and sharing it with Frontex and relevant national authorities; to support the development of the search and rescue capacity of relevant Libyan institutions through training.

Türkiye has sent thousands of its troops and thousands of mercenaries from pro-Turkish armed factions in Syria, to fight alongside forces in western Libya.

To this day, Ankara maintains thousands of members of its armed forces in Libya, along with about 7,000 Syrian mercenaries from the so-called “Syrian National Army.”

Despite international demands to withdraw mercenaries and foreign forces, Türkiye says its military presence in Libya is “legitimate and its forces should not be viewed as foreign forces.”

United Nations reports had previously accused SADAT, a Turkish defense consultancy, of violating an international arms embargo by deploying thousands of Syrian fighters to Libya.

The company has denied the allegations.