November 8, 2012
RABAT (AFP) - The finalists in the Miss Belgium 2013 beauty contest have ruffled feathers in Morocco after posing, casually clad, outside the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca, the largest in the conservative Muslim kingdom.
In one photograph, taken on Monday and published widely on the Internet, 10 of the 20 smiling young women pose in front of the enormous mosque, wearing hot pink vests and miniskirts.
The initiative did not go down well with Attajdid, the paper of the Party of Justice and Development, the ruling Islamist group elected in November.
"This behaviour could provoke discord and instability. It's an attack on a place of worship," the paper grumbled in a Wednesday editorial.
"Who authorised these young women to pose right in front of the mosque?" it demanded, quoting a lawyer, who added that the interior ministry should open a inquiry.
The picture also prompted furious outbursts on Moroccan news websites.
"I'm outraged by these photos, which touch our identity and our religion," wrote one commentator on hesspress.com, one of the most popular such sites.
But As-Sabah, another Moroccan daily, made light of the subject, running an article entitled "Ladies in Wonderland."
"It's a storm in a teacup. Allah loves beauty and there is nothing wrong with these young beauties posing in front of the Great Mosque."
Darline Devos, the president of the national Miss Belgium committee, apologised for any upset caused by the aspiring beauty queens, who are in Morocco for photo shoots.
"We should adapt to Moroccan traditions," she said, when contacted by AFP.
