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Rabat – Moroccan Arabic-speaking news , Chouf TV, has accused Mustapha El Khalfi, Morocco’s Minister of Communication, of “plagiarizing” the song of a Palestinian singer and using it without authorization to promote the Party of Justice and Development (PJD).
Chouf TV ran a news story Wednesday entitled “Resounding scandal: Minister of Communication El Khalfi plagiarized a Palestinian song dedicated to King Mohammed VI, and turned it into a song of PJD broadcast in its electoral campaign.” The story claims that El Khalfi plagiarized the song of a Palestinian singer, which the singer has allegedly intended to dedicate to King Mohammed VI of Morocco, in recognition of the monarch’s efforts as Chairman of the Jerusalem Committee.
According to Chouf TV, it is unclear whether the Minister obtained authorization from the Royal Court to use the song for the video clip used by the Justice and Development Party in the electoral campaign.
According to the same source, the Palestinian artist, named Azeddine Chaleh, composed the song to celebrate King Mohammed VI’s key role in supporting the Palestinian issue.
The singer, who is also “chairman of the Moroccan Palestinian Association for King Mohammed VI’s support for Jerusalem,” recorded the song in 2015 and intended to shoot a video clip for it. To obtain institutional support for his undertaking, he asked Moroccan activist Mohamed Al Badri to put him in touch with Morocco’s Minister of Communication.
Al Badri facilitated meeting between the singer and the minister. During the meeting, the Moroccan official allegedly expressed his “enthusiasm about the initiative and promised” the artist that his ministry would consider his request.
According to “documents” that the news source claimed to have received, the Palestinian artist submitted a written proposal on July 1, 2015, explaining the motivation for the song and requesting support from the minister.
According to the same source, the outgoing Minister left the Palestinian artist’s request unanswered for 15 months. In the meantime, however, the “minister used the melody of the song as a promotional song for PJD with altered lyrics.”
To inquire about the veracity of these claims, Morocco World News attempted to reach Minister Khalfi, as well as the Secretary General of the Ministry of Communication, Mohammed Ghazali, but they did not answer emails.
