Rabat - Lahoucin Idressi
Latifa Ahrar at Marrakesh film festival
Moroccan actress Latifa Ahrar has stirred controversy yet again by showing off some flesh on the sidelines of the International Film Festival in Marrakech, as she had done before in
her play “Kafr Naoum” .
A senior official in the Morocco's Islamist Justice and Development Party, Professor Najib Boliv, criticized her play in which she showed parts of her body to express her freedom in words, body and soul.
In her response, she said “I’m just following fashion, and I will say nothing but good about the Prime Minister.”
The scene from the play in which she bares her body had been criticized by conservative elements in Moroccan society and amongst the political elite. Some said that, Ahrar was trying to provoke the Islamic party which won in the Moroccan elections and its head appointed as a Prime Minister, however Ahrar, denied this and refused to critisise the newly appointed premier.
It was said in the "Moroccan Events” newspaper in its edition of Wednesday, December 7 that Ahrar insisted on sending a clear message to Boliv, and to anyone wants to restrict freedoms.
In an another attempt to stir up a debate on the new fabric of Moroccan society, ‘Akhbar Al-youm” newspaper chose one of Ahrar’s photos during the festival and discussed the possibility of a possible coexistence between Islamists and art.
For her part, Ahrar commented on her photos that were widely circulated on social network sites, in which, she wore a Moroccan kaftan and showed her legs while walking over the red carpet at the Film Festival saying “I love to follow the fashion.”
About the controversy caused by her pictures and play seen as a response to the Islamists victory in Morocco, and regarding her comments when the Prime Minister “asked god to guide her” in a TV show, she said “Benkirane didn’t say anything but good about me, so I’m not going to say anything but good about him.”