Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2002 - Morocco

Detention of Captain Mustapha Adib34

On 6th October 2000, Capt. Mustapha Adib, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for having reported acts of corruption within the army to his superiors. He was released on 17th May 2002 after having served the complete sentence since he was imprisoned on 17th December 1999.

The Observatory, and Lawyers Without Borders-Belgium submitted the case to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on 19th April 2001. In its opinion of 3rd December 2001, published on 10th January 2002, the Working Group declared that "Mustapha Adib's deprivation of liberty is arbitrary since it is contrary to Articles 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights", which are provisions that stipulate the right to a fair and equitable trial. The Working Group asked the Moroccan Government to "take the necessary steps to correct the situation by ensuring respect for standards and principles prescribed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights".

Threats against Mrs. Hakima Chaoui35

Mrs. Hakima Chaoui, a member of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (Association marocaine des droits de l'Homme – AMDH) and a poet continued being libelled in 2002 by people belonging the Islamist movements, because of her poems in support of women's rights. At the end of March, she was invited by the town of Kaalat Magouna to speak on "Women's Rights: between Legislation and Reality". The Islamists published an intimidating press release which included derogatory remarks against her and called for the conference to be boycotted. In the 16th and 17th February issues of the newspaper Raissalat Al Oumma, which tends towards the Islamists, the Preacher Zemzami called her an "adulterous, atheistic poet". In an interview dated 26 July in Al Aasr, which is affiliated to the Islamic party "Justice and Development", a member of the Islamic movement "Salafia Jihadia" said "she should be killed mercilessly". The investigation, that was started after the libel and intimidation campaigns against her in 2001, in particular after one of her poems on women's rights was read on the radio on Women's Day (8 March), has not led anywhere.

Union members from the Evitima factory sentenced36

Twenty-one workers in the Evitima factory who belong to UMT, the Moroccan labour union, were arrested on 2nd September 1999 because they went on strike and staged a sit-in. The outcome of the 12th December 2001 appeal was a suspended 2-month prison sentence and a 500 dirham fine. For financial reasons, they did not appeal to the Court of Cassation.

Further, they were not allowed to return to their factory jobs; the same applied to some 80 other UMT members who participated in the sit-in.

The trial of the alleged perpetrators of the ill treatment and torture which the workers suffered when they were being arrested in the factory is still pending since the audiences have been postponed several times. The next audience is due to take place on 16th January 2003.

Legal Proceedings against members of ANDCM37

Consideration of the appeal of the 22 members of the National Moroccan Association of the Qualified Unemployed (Association nationale des diplômés-chômeurs – ANDCM) who were arrested on 18th and 19th June 2000 following a peaceful demonstration, is constantly being postponed and had still not taken place at the end of 2002. The next audience is scheduled for 15th January 2003. On 2nd July 2000, three of the accused were sentenced to two months in prison and 19 others to a 2-month suspended sentences.


[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

34. See Annual Report 2001 and press release of 11 January 2002.

35. See Annual Report 2001.

36. See Annual Report 2001.

37. See Annual Report 2001.

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