Fathallah Arsalane, deputy secretary general of Al Adl wal Ihsan, or the Justice and Charity movement, pours tea during an interview with The Associated Press in Rabat, Morocco. Following the death of its founder last month, Morocco's largest opposition movement looks to play a greater role in Moroccan politics and society. — AP RABAT — Morocco likes to project itself as unique in the Middle East in finding a third way between revolution and repression amid the uprisings of the Arab Spring. The nation's largest opposition Islamist group is challenging that view. In an interview with The Associated Press, Fathallah Arsalane, political leader of Al Adl wal Ihsan, or the Justice and Charity movement, warned that Morocco is at serious risk of a popular revolt if the state doesn't recognize the demands of the Arab Spring and implement real democratic reforms. “Things have regressed to the point before the Arab Spring and today there is a risk of serious popular revolt outside of any political structure,” he said at his home in the capital Rabat. “We can't predict when the social situation will explode but what is certain is that all the ingredients already exist.” Unlike other leaders in the region beset by popular uprisings in 2011, Morocco's King Mohammed VI swiftly made promises to open up the country's politics and give greater powers to elected institutions. A new constitution was passed and then a legal Islamist party, called Justice and Development, won the right in elections to lead the new government — making Al Adl wal Ihsan Morocco's clearest, and possibly most potent, opposition force. But Arsalane said that nearly two years after the start of the Arab Spring, the country is moving backward, with a hereditary monarchy and its court still holding the reins of power and unaccountable to the people. Founded in 1987, Al Adl wal Ihsan is a spiritual and political movement that has long criticized the monarchy and called for real political reform and a state based on Islamic precepts of justice, charity and good works. Its founder, Abdessalam Yassine, was one of the few who dared speak out against Morocco's previous king, the long-reigning King Hassan II, and he spent years under house arrest. The movement itself is banned, though tolerated, while its members are often arrested. In the year since taking power on promises of reform, the Justice and Development Party has made a few tentative steps to fight corruption. But for most Moroccans little has changed, and the economic crisis brought on by Europe's woes is deepening. Arsalane said that Prime Minister Abdililah Benkirane's government is hobbled by coalition partners with close ties to the palace. And while Morocco looks fairly stable compared to its neighbors — with Tunisia and Egypt wracked by unrest, Algeria beset by militant attacks and Libya disintegrating into warring militias — Arsalane said that Moroccan unrest could be on the horizon if Benkirane is unable to implement meaningful reform. “The regime should have grasped the message of the Arab Spring and made the courageous decisions to change things on all levels, political, social, economic,” he said. “Instead it has been the opposite.” Arsalane is not alone in his grim assessment of the state of Morocco's reforms. In its 2012 report on the region released Thursday, Human Rights Watch complained about police brutality, laws curbing free speech and unfair trials. “Judging by the text of the 2011 constitution, Morocco's leaders recognize that enhancing human rights is central to meeting popular aspirations,” HRW's North Africa direct Sarah Leah Whitson said in a statement. “But judging by the practice on the ground, they have yet to grasp that words alone are not enough.” — AP
