…has landed a 27-year-old Moroccan computer engineer in prison over the weekend in a case that is already attracting international outrage. AFP reports a Moroccan judge sentenced Fouad Mourtada (pictured)
to three years in prison and a fine of 10,000 dinar for creating a fictional Facebook identity for King Mohammed VI’s brother, Prince Moulay Rachid.

Never mind that Facebook is full of fake celebrity profiles from Nicolas Sarkozy to George Bush and Tony Blair. But in Morocco, such satire is considered an insult to "the sacred integrity of the realm as represented by the prince."

As I posted earlier on The Times Online’s Mousetrap blog, over 2,700 Facebook users have joined a web-wide campaign to put pressure on Moroccan authorities over this perversely heavy-handed legal ruling. Fittingly, a "Prince Moulay Rachid" joins the protest to call it "a farse". Let’s hope the real prince comes around to the same conclusion.