How, for a decade, the Moroccan government has repressed opponents and critical journalists: Human Rights Watch publishes this Thursday, July 28 “a handbook of repression techniques in Morocco“For ten years, this phenomenon of repression has been growing according to the NGO, and the year 2021 is breaking all records.
According to the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), an observer member of the UN Economic and Social Council, 2021 has been a year of “unprecedented repression” in Morocco, in terms of freedom of expression and of the press. In one year, 170 journalists and activists have been arrested or prosecuted and more than 140 demonstrations have been banned under the pretext of the state of health emergency.
There are many techniques for silencing the opposition, as explained by Ahmed Benchemsi, Human Rights Watch’s communications director for the North Africa region: “Opponents take 5-6 years in prison after completely unfair trials, others are subject to surveillance by spyware in their phones, some see intimate videos broadcast to members of their family…“. He adds that it can go up to “attacks in the street“.
The Moroccan authorities use indirect and underhanded measures to silence activists and independent journalists, while striving to preserve the image of a “moderate” & rights-respecting country that Morocco seeks to give itself https://t .co/0ciWKKLoH3 pic.twitter.com/V8N4JAyVHg
— HRW in French (@hrw_fr) July 28, 2022
Among the case examples detailed in the report is that of Maati Monjib. A historian and political activist, he was imprisoned for three months for embezzlement of NGO funds. Facts that are not proven according to Ahmed Benchemsi, who ensures that no organization has ever filed a complaint.
“This man has suffered everything. There have been almost thousands of articles published against him in recent years, totally defamatory, often with very tendentious allegations about his private life, information which could only be obtained by surveillance. He had police cars following him all the time, or parked outside his house.”
Ahmed Benchemsiat franceinfo
What makes this report unique is that all the evidence is there, explains Ahmed Benchemsi, that “Morocco uses these underhanded methods to be able to silence the opposition, while continuing to benefit from the image of a relatively moderate and liberal country“.
Through this manual, the NGO hopes to open the eyes of the international community, so that Morocco’s partner countries can intervene with the Moroccan government, and thus “lobby”.