Morocco arrests 44 members of Islamist opposition

RABAT (Reuters) - Moroccan security forces arrested 44 members of the country's largest Islamic opposition group over the weekend after it tried to hold marches in solidarity with the Palestinians, the government said.

Nineteen members of Al Adl wal-Ihsane (Justice and Charity), which is tolerated by the government but has no legal status to organise public meetings, were rounded up on Sunday in the northeastern town of Nador.

"Some 200 people were getting ready to take part ... but the imposing presence of the security forces stopped them holding this unauthorized march," state news agency MAP cited a security official as saying.

The government arrested 25 group members the previous evening after they gathered without permission in a house in Driouech, 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of Nador, the official said.

Group spokesman Fathallah Arsalane said the arrests came after Justice and Charity tried to hold demonstrations across the country in support of the Palestinians.

Such demonstrations are held often in Morocco to express solidarity with the suffering of the Palestinian people and in support of their demands for full statehood.

The meeting in Driouech was a routine gathering for Koranic readings and prayers and those arrested were all released later, Arsalane said.

"The Makhzen (political establishment) has been doing this kind of thing for the past year and a half," he added. "Our association condemns terrorism and opposes violence. Our ideas are published and everyone in Morocco knows them."

Justice and Charity accuses the government of trying to stifle it by limiting its sources of funding, fining members and putting hundreds of them on trial.

The group says it aims to transform Moroccan society through social work and non-violent political action that champions women's rights, active citizenship and redistribution of wealth.

Opponents say it has a hidden agenda to abolish the monarchy and establish a hard-line Islamic state with sharia law.

The group is inspired by Sufi mysticism and has developed a personality cult around charismatic leader Sheikh Abdessalam Yassine, who established the movement over 20 years ago.

It is allowed to operate as a charity but excluded from official political activity because of its hostility to the powerful monarchy.

(Reporting by Tom Pfeiffer; editing by Myra MacDonald)