Elton John is expected to be the highlight of Morocco’s biggest music festival Wednesday evening — despite calls by the country’s main Islamist party to shelve the British singer because of his homosexuality. The public spat between organizers for the Mawazine Festival and the Justice and Development Party, or PJD, the country’s largest authorized Islamist group, illustrates the growing rift between Morocco’s Western-leaning authorities and the more conservative Muslim movements that are on the rise in the North African kingdom. “This singer is famous for his homosexual behavior and for advocating it,” said Mustapha Ramid, a leader and spokesman for the PJD, the biggest opposition party with 40 lawmakers in parliament.

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