Rabat, Morocco - A Moroccan schoolboy has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for linking King Mohammed VI with the Spanish football club Barcelona, local media reported Friday. Yassine Belassal, 18, slightly changed the national slogan when writing it on a school blackboard in the village of Ait Ourir near Marrakesh.
"God, fatherland, king," the slogan goes, but Belassal wrote: "God, fatherland, Barca."
The joke did not amuse the headmaster, who informed police. Belassal ended up sharing a Marrakesh jail with dozens of criminals, unable to pass his final exams.
The fate of the young man has upset human rights groups, which have protested to the justice ministry, while internet campaigners have called on Barcelona to intervene in favour of its fan.
