Ahmed Rami (; born 12 December 1946) is a Moroccan-Swedish writer, political activist, coup d'etat participant, military officer and
Holocaust denier
Denial of the Holocaust is an antisemitic conspiracy theory that asserts that the genocide of Jews by the Nazis is a fabrication or exaggeration. It includes making one or more of the following false claims:
*Nazi Germany's "Final Solution" wa ...
. He gained attention as the founder of the radio station
Radio Islam, which now functions as a website.
Biography
Rami was born in
Tafraout,
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
, the son of a
Berber
Berber or Berbers may refer to:
Ethnic group
* Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa
* Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages
Places
* Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile
People with the surname
* Ady Berber (1913–196 ...
sheikh
Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...
.
While attending the
école normale supérieure in
Casablanca
Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...
, Rami joined the
National Union of Popular Forces
The National Union of Popular Forces (; , UNFP) was a political party in Morocco founded in 1959 in Morocco by Mehdi Ben Barka and others. It opposed the monarchy and it was closely associated with the labour movement, the student movement (partic ...
. After graduating in June 1963, Rami taught history, geography, French and Arabic at secondary schools in Casablanca. In autumn 1965, Rami enrolled in the Royal Military Academy in
Meknes
Meknes (, ) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th century by the Almoravid dynasty, Almoravids as a military settlement, Mekne ...
with the intention — as an officer — of becoming more effective in his opposition to the regime.
[ Following the arrest and disappearance of ]Mehdi Ben Barka
Mehdi Ben Barka (; 1920 – disappeared 29 October 1965) was a Moroccan nationalist, Arab socialist, politician, revolutionary, anti-imperialist, head of the left-wing National Union of Popular Forces (UNFP) and secretary of the Tricontinenta ...
, Rami became resolved "to enter the system in order to destroy it." Rami became a tank lieutenant in the Royal Moroccan Army
The Royal Moroccan Army ( ''Al-Quwwat al-Bariyah al-Malakiyah al-Maghribiyah'', ''tasrdast tagldant'') is the branch of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations.
The Royal Moroccan Army is about 215,000 t ...
and claims to have had close ties with general Mohamed Oufkir
General Mohamed Oufkir (; 16 August 1920 − 16 August 1972) was a Moroccan senior military officer who held many important governmental posts like the minister of interior and minister of defense. Throughout the 60s, he rose to become the reg ...
. Convinced that the King of Morocco
The king of Morocco (; ) is the monarch and head of state of Morocco. The kings of Morocco are members of the Alawi dynasty. It is one of the country's most powerful offices.
Mohammed VI ( Sidi Mohammed bin Hassan al-Alawi) is the current kin ...
Hassan II
Hassan, Hasan, Hassane, Haasana, Hassaan, Asan, Hassun, Hasun, Hassen, Hasson or Hasani may refer to:
People
*Hassan (given name), Arabic given name and a list of people with that given name
*Hassan (surname), Arabic, Jewish, Irish, and Scotti ...
was a puppet of Jews and the Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
(CIA), Rami participated in the 1972 Moroccan coup attempt
The 1972 Moroccan coup attempt was an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate King Hassan II of Morocco on 16 August 1972. The attempted coup d'état occurred in Morocco when a rebel faction within the Moroccan military attempted to shoot down an air ...
.[ He sought and obtained political asylum in Sweden in 1973.
In 1987, Rami began using a public access Swedish radio station to broadcast Radio Islam, ostensibly a ]public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
program for Sweden's Muslims. The content of the shows, however, focused on Jews, propagated for Holocaust denial and nazism
Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...
, and the station was accused of being a vehicle for antisemitism
Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...
. In 1989, "Rami was charged by the Swedish Chancellor of Justice with hate speech
Hate speech is a term with varied meaning and has no single, consistent definition. It is defined by the ''Cambridge Dictionary'' as "public speech that expresses hate or encourages violence towards a person or group based on something such as ...
('' hets mot folkgrupp'')."[
]