Former Moroccan International Player Receives Royal Gift, Public Outrage Mounts

Casablanca - After Raja’s unprecedented accomplishments in the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup hosted in Morocco, Salaheddine Bassir, a former member of Raja’s executive bureau and a former international player, asked the king for a gift.

The outrage that Bassir’s act stirred in Morocco has now been magnified after he has reportedly received his royal gift.

Salahdeddine Bassir has recently received the gift he had asked the king for during the royal reception that the king had offered the Green Club for their accomplishments in FCWC 2013.

In an interview with news website Hespress on January 11th, Bassir admitted that he had asked the king for a plot of land after the Eagles’ outstanding performance in FCWC 2013.

Bassir also said that he was shocked to learn that Raja’s president Mohammed Boudrika had frozen his membership in the club’s executive office without his knowledge. “I didn’t think it would cause any harm to the club’s interest or that it would jeopardize my position inside the green castle,” Bassir told Hesspress.

However, Boudrika’s sacking of Salaheddine Bassir was only one among the miscellaneous reactions that his act has received. More significant was the indignation that Bassir’s request from the king has stirred among Moroccans. Bassir has been described by many Moroccans as “greedy and acquisitive.”

Now that Bassir has allegedly received the plot of land he had asked the king for, many Moroccans’ feelings of admiration and respect for the former international Moroccan player seem to have been replaced by feelings of disdain and scorn:

“I already did not like him before,” and now he has given me another reason to disdain him even more,” Enas Malik, a Moroccan university student and soccer fan tells MWN.

“This is an abuse of people's emotions,” Ismail Chaki, a fervid Raja fan shares his opinion with MWN.

“Just because one had had a couple of accomplishments in the past, he cannot be treated more generously than others.”

“That land is the peoples’ land, and Bassir is no longer a hero,” Ismail adds.