Following a protracted debate, the Moroccan Parliament announced on July 23rd that it passed a controversial new law governing the conduct of public officials, Magharebia News reports. The new legislation requires top civil servants and state officials, including parliamentary representatives, to declare their personal assets.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the arrest of Abderrahim Ariri, the publisher of the weekly "Al Watan Al An" ("The Nation Now"), and one of his journalists, Mostapha Hurmatallah, on 17 July 2007 in Casablanca after they published the text of an internal security memo circulated by the General Directorate for Territorial Surveillance (DGST), an intelligence agency.

Child abuse has increased 50% over the last year in Morocco, according to a recent report by the Coalition against Sexual Abuse of Children (COCASSE). The report concludes that approximately 80% of child abuse cases involve sexual exploitation, and 75% of the perpetrators have a familial relationship with their victims. Most victims of sexual exploitation are children under age 10.

The word on the streets of Casablanca, the bustling, commercial capital of Morocco, is out: The emperor has new clothes. He also has a new baby girl, and the Moroccan press made a splash about it. Weeks after the birth of King Mohammed VI's daughter, Princess Khadija, on Feb. 28, Morocco's two leading women's magazines offered an "exclusive" visual paean to her little, royal highness.

Human Rights Watch mourns the death of Moroccan human rights activist Driss Benzekri, who died on Sunday after a long illness at the age of 57. Arrested for his left-wing student activities in 1974, Benzekri served the next 17 years as a political prisoner. Freed in 1991 by the late King Hassan II, Benzekri immersed himself in the human rights work that consumed him until the end of his days.