Abdullah Tifil Hamuchi is Morocco's security star. He has rolled back many liberal reforms the first years of Mohammed's reign. Security services have long used coercive methods to silence critics. Blackmail is one of the main tools that police are using against activists. The king's distractedness was causing problems, some Moroccans thought.
Their return to rule is unequivocally bad for the country’s women and girls. But wholesale collapse has not come and some aspects of government have improved; it turns out threats of grotesque violence change behaviours. We investigate the curious case of Morocco’s absent king—and his unlikely mixed-martial-artist pals. And how the mobile phone has shaped cinema for half a century.
For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, try a free 30-day digital subscription by going to www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer