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The first tale. A few months back I was in my favourite café in Fès and noticed that one of the young waiters was missing. The whispered story was that he had been arrested. My friend David who knew the teenage boy, did some digging around and discovered what had happened.

The boy and a friend had finished work and gone into the souq and purchased a Bollywood DVD – a thriller. They then went to another café to watch it on the TV there. Now, as in most Bollywood thrillers these days there was a scene with terrorists. The language of the film was Hindi, the subtitles in English. An American tourist and his wife happened to be in the same café and, after reading some of the subtitles, decided that the waiter and his friend were potential terrorists watching jihadi propaganda. They phoned the American Embassy on Avenue de Mohamed El Fassi in Rabat. The Embassy rang the police and other officials in Fès and the boys were arrested.

Fortunately David followed up on the story, saw the police and eventually a judge and got the boys out – but not until they had spent four days in prison.

Now, we are always being told to be alert in the so called "War on Terror", but being paranoid can cause others problems.

The second tale. A few months after September 11, I met a middle-aged American couple in the Hotel Batha in the Medina. We had a drink together and they told me they had come to Morocco because they thought that in the wake of the events at the Twin Towers, that it would be a wise thing to try and understand Islam. Morocco, being stable and moderate, seemed the best place to visit. These two retired teacher-librarians had hired a car and driver and were going to spend three months travelling and learning. Having been horrified at the American Government response to September 11 (invading Afghanistan and then the illegal occupation of Iraq), I was delighted to meet Americans with such open minds, warm hearts and a delightful sense of curiosity. Bless them.

Tags: Morocco, Fès, travel, Fez,