Rabat – Thousands of demonstrators including families of detained Rif Hirak activists flooded the streets of Morocco’s capital city on Saturday to urge for “unconditional” release of 54 Rif activists, following the denial of their appeals.
Earlier this month, The Casablanca Court of Appeal has upheld the verdicts against 54 detainees from the Rif Hirak movement. Collectively, the Rif activists will face sentences of more than 300 years.
The demonstrations also called for the release of journalist Hamid El Mahdaoui, who is serving a three-year sentence for covering the Rif Hirak protests in Morocco’s northern Rif region.
The march has also attracted a significant presence of many national and international news media outlets as well as several high-powered human rights watchdog agencies.
