U.S. COMMUNISTS CONVICTED

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27125, 22 August 1953, Page 7

U.S. COMMUNISTS CONVICTED

(Rec. 8 p.m.) NEW YORK, Aug. 20. A Federal District Court jury convicted five Communists today of conspiring to teach and advocate the violent overthrow of the Government. The jury, of nine women and three reached the verdict after deaerating for more than 30 hours. The frjal lasted more than five months. Those convicted were Steve Nelson, a fonner Western Pennsylvania Comfiiunist Party chairman, Irving Weissman. a West Virginia organiser. James Dolsen, a party writer, William Alberta former party secretary, and Benfrniin Careat>*w. a party treasurer. liEpto has mieady been sentenced 20 years in prison for violat- “*• Pennsylvania’s Anti-Sedition Act.

The Aid el Kebir festival, during which Moslems slaughter sheep in memory of Abraham’s sacrifice and the Moroccan chieftains traditionally pay homage to the Sultan, began at moonrise last night soon after the French Government had deposed and banished Sultan Mohammed V. The deposed Sultan is now in exile in Corsica.

Official sources in Rabat declined to comment on the deposing of the Sultan.

French sources said that during the last 48 hours Moroccan chiefs, religious leaders, and legal authorities had flocked to sign the act of allegiance to the new Imam.

Last night the only prominent opponents of the movement led by the Pasha of Marrakesh left were the Pashas of Rabat, Casablanca, Fez, and Sefrou and the Caids of the Ait, Ah mar, and Kahalous tribes, the sources said.

General Guillaume told the Sultan the situation in Morocco made the French Government’s decision absolutely necessary. Curfew will be enforced in all Moroccan towns tonight from dusk until dawn. “No Surprise” The French action came as no surprise in London, where it was felt that the Sultan had yielded too late to the wishes of General Guillaume in signing the municipal reforms decreed by the French Government. It was evident he had signed only under the threat of rebellion by the tribal chiefs led by El Glaoui, pasha of Marrakesh. El Glaoui has long opposed the Sultan for his support of the Nationalist Istiqlal Party, whose principles offend certain Islamic religious tenets. The proclamation of the Sultan’s relative, Sidi Moulay Mohammed ben Afafa, as Imam (the spiritual chief of Morocco) was viewed in London as a stalling move rather than as a serious attempt at a lasting compromise. The spiritual sway that the title of Imam confers on the Sultan has always been considered the basis of his authority.