The court of Al hoceima in Morocco’s Rif neglected region has sentenced Bouchra el yahyaoui to two months of prison and a fine of $500 for condemning the severe prison sentences for Hirak Rif activists on live media.Her fiancee also received earlier this month a prison sentence of 20 years.

Al hoceima, April 18, 2018

At least six people including Nasser Zafzafi, leader of the Protest Movement of Rif in Morocco (Hirak), have accused Moroccan police investigators of sexual rape and physical abuse as an alternative weapon to humiliate and punish them. During his recent appearance in court, Mr. Zafzafi asked his mother to leave the courtroom before he began to tell a hideous story of his torture from the minute his house got raided by the Moroccan police up to now. His mother, who fighting cancer left the courtroom with tears in her eyes.

Mr. Zafzafi stated that three of the police men who rained his house rushed to his bedroom, and managed to reach him and shoved his head with a metal bar. They then punched him in the face with their handcuffs, followed by kicks in the stomach. The Leader of the Rif Protest Movement who appeared to be suffering from torture and occasionally paused to catch his breathe added that a police officer had repeatedly hit him and slammed his head to the wall until he was bleeding while asking him to say “Long Live The King”. Mr. Zafzafi continued his story and said that one of the police officers raped him with his finger while another officer pulled down Zafzafi’s pants and raped him with a stick. In addition, Naseer has been detained in a solitary confinement for over ten months now.

In another case, Ayman, 16 year old boy from lmzouren who’s been detained told the judge, ” I was raped by Moroccan Police. They had me chose between penetration with a glass bottle or their penises. They then tied me and three of them started to touch me and putting their fingers in my anus. Ayman stated to the judge that after he lost his strength to resist the rape, they finally raped him as they were calling him a “bastard of Spaniards”. During his court, his mother uncontrollably broke into tears and ran towards him to hug him. Two agents stopped her and dragged her out of the court. The poor mother sadly shouted outside “my child, my soul, what have you done to my child you criminals?”

Farida Houdo, the sister of the abducted Riffian activist Abdelali Houdo said on Dutch radio yesterday that half of the prisoners were terribly raped. While Ahmed Zafzafi, father of Nasser Zafzafi had confirmed that his son has not told all the violence, rape and sexual assault he had gone through inside police station during their investigations.

Abdessadek Bouchtaoui, lawyer of the detained Hirak Rif activists has also confirmed the ongoing mass rapes. He added that reports of sexual abuse were only the “tip of the iceberg” as many victims chose not to publicly speak about it due to family-related reasons.

Despite the seriousness of these cases, the Moroccan justice system did not open an independent investigation nor did they at least issue a statement. On the other hand, the Moroccan government says that this matter is the jurisdiction of the judiciary system. While social networks and human rights groups have condemned the rape allegations, most of the Moroccan political parties have remained silent and have not issued any statement.

Al Hoceima March 21, 2018

Lawyer of the long-detained Hirak Rif activists & Human Rights defender, Abdessadek El Bouchattaoui, has reportedly left Morocco to seek asylum in Europe due to various types of  harassment and bullying behaviors he was facing on a daily basis, his lawyer wife in a statement yesterday.

For the record, El Bouchtaoui was sentenced on February 8 to 20 months in prison by the Al Hoceima Court of First Instance on several charges that include “insulting officials and representatives of the authority while on duty” and “threatening public bodies.”

Al Hoceima, March 20, 2018

Nihal Ahbad,  sister of Bilal Ahbad, one of the ‘Hirak’ detainees in the Okacha prison in Casablanca,  has reportedly been under detention in Morocco’s neglected Rif region of Imzouren since Sunday, a family member said.

Nihal is believed to be arrested for her social media activities, including her latest live video urging people of ‘Imzouren’ to come out to protest against the ongoing repression in Rif region and for the release of detained Hirak” Rif activists.

Nihal Ahbad is scheduled to appear today, Tuesday, for arraignment before the Attorney General of the King at Casablanca’s Court of Appeal, as announced in a communiqué released by the Attorney General Monday. [ads2]

January 18, 2018

Demonstrations in Morocco’s Rif region, the most sustained street protests the country has seen since the Arab uprisings of 2011, showed the limits to Morocco’s tolerance of free speech and the right of peaceful assembly, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing its World Report 2018. Morocco should release all imprisoned peaceful protesters and abolish penal code provisions that allow the government to jail people for expressing their views.

Casablanca | During a court trail January 5, the “Hirak” activists lawyers, told the press media that Nasser Zefzafi, the Rif protests leader, is living in a very critical health after being held in solitary confinement for more than seven months now.

The same source added that Nasser has already lost about 20 pounds since his arrests after engaging in several hunger strikes along with other leaders of “Hirak” to protest what they call inhumane conditions of detention in the Oukacha prison in Casablanca.

Since the 1990s, the U.N. Committee Against Torture has repeatedly condemned the use of solitary confinement and called on all countries to ban the solitary confinement of prisoners except in very exceptional circumstances and for as short a time as possible, with an absolute prohibition in the case of juveniles and people with mental disabilities.

On the other hand, physician experts cite concerns that although a prisoner or detainee who goes on hunger strike may have no significant medical problems at the start of his actions, as the hunger strike is prolonged his physical deterioration will inevitably require medical intervention in order to preserve his life.

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Prince Hicham Alloaui of Morocco is the first cousin of the current King Mohammed VI, he is known as “Red Prince” because of his progressive political positions. More recently, he has become an outspoken advocate for greater democracy in Morocco and the broader Middle East. He regularly speaks on these issues at public forums around the world, among them the University of Harvard University and Yale University. He has also published numerous essays on political reform and democracy in English, French, and Arabic language journals and newspapers.

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The incident sparked a wave of demonstrations in Morocco’s neglected Rif region, demanding demanding jobs, funding for the impoverished area and an end to alleged government corruption.

On the other hand, Morocco police have arrested more than 270 people over the Rif protests, many of them arbitrarily, including peaceful activists and some journalists. The overwhelming majority are in detention, and many have already been sentenced to prison terms for protest-related charges. At least 50 are currently being investigated on state-security charges. Some could face could face death penalty.[ads1]