TelQuel (French: As it is) (slogan: Morocco as it is), is a French-language Moroccan weekly magazine. It is privately owned, and is known for its resolute opposition to Islamist ideology in Morocco.
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History and profile
Tel Quel was founded in 2001 by Ahmed Benchemsi. It has been repeatedly subjected to harassment and pressures from the Moroccan government, according to press freedom watchdogs such as Reporters without Borders (RSF). Both Benchemsi and Boukhari were convicted in 2005 on charges of defamation, in what the RSF described as a political trial.
On 1 August 2009, the Moroccan government seized an edition of TelQuel, following its inclusion of an opinion poll conducted jointly with French newspaper Le Monde and looking at the performance of King Mohammed VI over the first ten years of his reign. Although 91% viewed his performance favourably, the authorities considered this to be an unsuitable topic for coverage and promptly banned publication of the survey, provoking a furious reaction from the press and Web users.
TelQuel started a Moroccan Arabic edition, Nichane. In 2010, however, it went out of business following government pressure on companies to withdraw advertising.