Morocco

The news that Morocco is reintroducing military conscription from October 1st has many Dutch-Moroccans worried that they will have to join the North African country's army for a year. But the conscription will probably not affect Moroccans who do not live in the country, according to the foundation for Dutch-Moroccans SMN, AD reports.

PvdA politicians Lilianne Ploumen and Kati Piri are cutting their working visit to Morocco short because they were denied access to the coastal cities of Al Hoceima and Nador. They wanted their presence there to express solitary with the Rif protest movement, but the local authorities banned them from entering, NOS reports.

Dozens of flights to and from the Canary Islands had to land at other airports on Sunday due to severe storms on the islands. Heavy rains an winds over 100 kilometers per hour made it impossible for flights to land on or take off from the islands during the afternoon. Many hundreds of Dutch holiday makers were affected, AD reports.

Flightradar24 shows that many flights had to move to Morocco and Faro in Portugal. These detours affected hundreds of Dutch tourists using airlines TUI and Transavia, according to the newspaper.

Dutch trucker Gerard de Rooy had a good start to the ECO Africa Race in Morocco. Despite rocks being thrown through his side window shortly before the finish line, he was still the first trucker to finish, Omroep Brabant reports.

"At ten, fifteen kilometers before the finish there was a group of stone throwers. We got a stone through the side window", De Rooy said to the broadcaster. Fortunately nobody was injured. Some others got stones through the windshield."

Dutch-Moroccans gathered on the Schouwburgplein in Rotterdam on Sunday to protest against human rights violations and injustices in the Moroccan Rif region and for the release of political prisoners. An estimated 2 thousand people from the Netherlands and abroad took part in the protest, Bouchra Banhammou of organizing committee Moshen Fikri Nederland said to NU.nl.

The protesters want to show support for the people's movement in the Rif region. PvdA European Parliamentarian Kati Piri and former parliamentarian Ahmed Marcouch spoke at the event. 

There is a lively trade in stolen goods at the asylum center in Delfzijl, Dagblad van het Noorden reports based on its own research. Both the police and central agency for asylum reception in the Netherlands COA say there is no evidence of this.

According to th newspaper, asylum seekers from safe countries such as Morocco and Algeria often go out to commit robbery and then sell what they stole. The paper writes that it bought sports shoes for about 15 euros, an iPhone 6s for 60 euros and a bottle of Black Label Whiskey for 5 euros. 

The number of adults held in custody by order of Dutch courts fell in 2015 by 3,450 to 39,790. It represents a decline of nearly eight percent on the 2014 prison population, according to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), a reversal after two straight years of slight increases.

Penalties facing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Morocco are leading to an increase in LGBT asylum requests in the Netherlands.  Today two girls age 16 and 17 are in court n Marrakesh for a kiss and cuddle in public, AD reports.

"There are more and more requests from LGBT people from Morocco who ended up in trouble, Sandro Kortekaas, president of Asylum Support, said to the newspaper. Asylum Support is a volunteer organization that supports foreign LGBT people apply for asylum in the Netherlands. 

It's an annoying situation, but the the Moroccan passports with Dutch visas that were stolen last week can do little harm, Minister Bert Koenders of Foreign Affairs said to the Telegraaf on Friday.

Authorities in Morocco arrested a suspect in connection with the decapitation of Nabil Amzieb, whose severed head was left in front of the Fayrouz shisha lounge in Amsterdam on March 8th.

Moroccan King Mohammed VI is spending his visit to the Netherlands with his fans, posing for photos and videos or even drinking a cup of tea. It is unclear why exactly the King of Morocco decided to visit the Netherlands this week.