MOROCCO: TEN IMAMS ARRESTED

Rabat, 7 Dec. (AKI) - Moroccan authorities have arrested ten imams in the past few days on charges that they belonged to a banned Islamic militant group, the interior ministry said on Thursday. The ten are accused of being members of the organisation 'Al-Adala wa al-Ihsan' which aims to oust Morocco's monarchy and create an Islamic state based on Sharia. Among those arrested is Ben Salam, a leading imam in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

Police accuse him of inciting violence in his sermons and of propaganda in favour of the banned group.

The ten imams have all denied the charges.

Members of the 'al-Adala wa al-Ihsan' have accused authorities of arresting the clerics only because they are high profile and one of them is a judge of Sharia, Islamic law.