07/19/2018
Society for Threatened Peoples warns: Morocco is not a safe country of origin
German Federal Government is ignoring serious human rights violations (Press Release)
The Federal Assembly and Federal Parliament still have to agree to the draft law. The classification of the Maghreb States as safe countries of origin failed due to the resistance of the affected countries. The approval of the Federal Assembly is uncertain this time. Picture: CCO
The Federal Assembly and Federal Parliament still have to agree to the draft law. The classification of the Maghreb States as safe countries of origin failed due to the resistance of the affected countries. The approval of the Federal Assembly is uncertain this time. Picture: CCO
It is thoughtless and ignorant to declare a state such as the Kingdom of Morocco – where organizing demonstrations can be punished with up to 20 years imprisonment – a safe country of origin. Clearly, the federal government is not informed about the actual human rights situation in the country – or it doesn’t care. Both possible explanations would be an unsuitable basis for this legislative proposal, which the Federal Council must now decide on,” stated Ulrich Delius, the STP’s director, in Göttingen on Thursday.
As a striking example, the STP mentioned the persecution of the Hirak protest movement in the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco. The social movement, led by the Masir people (Berbers), is complaining that more than 400 of its members and supporters have been arrested over the past year and a half, and dozens were sentenced to long prison terms. In June 26, 2018, the movement’s spokesman Nasser Zefzafi and three of Hirak’s senior representatives were sentenced to 20 years in prison in a much-noticed lawsuit – and 49 other defendants were given long prison terms imprisonment or fined, including Mohamed Haki, Zakaria Adechchour, and Mahmoud Bouhenoud, who will have to serve 15 years in prison. Seven others were sentenced to ten years in prison for “endangering state security”.
Delius emphasized that these were not the first trials against supporters of the movement, which, since autumn 2016, has been making headlines all over the world with its protests against corruption, abuse of power, and neglect of the impoverished Rif region. “We are surprised that the federal government remained silent about the arbitrary persecution of the Hirak movement. It would be a scandal if this is only due to the intention of declaring Morocco a safe country of origin – and a bad sign regarding Germany’s commitment towards human rights.”
The Moroccan authorities didn’t just crush the protests initiated by Hirak, they also suppressed media coverage of the demonstrations: Several Moroccan journalists were jailed, websites were arbitrarily closed down, and foreign reporters were not allowed to access the Rif region. Journalist Hamid el Mahdaoui was sentenced to four years and three months in prison for his coverage of Hirak, and the victim’s lawyers accused the Moroccan authorities of torturing the detainees. Due to the repression, more and more people are fleeing from Morocco to Spain.
