Morocco: around twenty Hirak detainees pardoned

About twenty detainees from Hirak, the protest movement that agitated the Moroccan region of Rif (north) in 2016-2017, are among the some 1,500 convicts pardoned on Wednesday, we learned from the Association of Families of Hirak detainees. King Mohammed VI pardoned a total of 1,446 people sentenced by various courts in the kingdom, on the occasion of the annual Feast of the Throne, according to the Ministry of Justice.

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Among them are 24 members of Hirak sentenced to terms of four to ten years in prison, a member of the Association of Families told AFP, confirming information published in the press. After this grace, there will remain about twenty activists of the social movement in prison, according to the same source. The National Human Rights Council (CNDH, an official body), confirmed that " dozens of detainees tried in the context of social events have benefited from this royal pardon ."

Rabie Al Ablaq, an activist sentenced to five years in prison and having followed several hunger strikes, as well as El Mortada Iamrachen, a figure of the movement, sentenced to the same sentence for " apologizing for terrorism ", notably benefited from a grace. The protest in the historically rebellious region of the Rif was sparked by the death, in October 2016, of a fish seller, crushed in a dumpster while trying to oppose the seizure of his merchandise.

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Unaffected by pardon, movement leader Nasser Zefzafi, finalist for the prestigious 2019 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Conscience, is serving a 20-year sentence for " conspiracy to undermine state security ". Journalist Hamid El Mahdaoui, who had covered the protest, was released in July after serving a three-year sentence.