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Amnesty International Report 2004 - Morocco / Western Sahara

Covering events from January - December 2003

Forty-five people were killed in several bomb attacks in Casablanca on 16 May. The authorities intensified their clampdown on suspected Islamist activists, begun in 2002, passing a new "anti-terrorist" law on 28 May. Judicial proceedings were brought against over 1,500 people suspected of involvement with the attacks or other "terrorist" activities. At least 16 were sentenced to death and hundreds more to prison terms. Dozens of those sentenced said they had been tortured or ill-treated, in some cases in secret detention, but investigations were generally not carried out into the allegations. Curbs on the rights to freedom of association and expression were felt most acutely by Sahrawi human rights activists and those perceived to be questioning the authority of the monarchy. A draft personal status law proposed significant improvements to women's rights. A commission was established to look into "disappearances" and arbitrary detention in previous decades. The fate of hundreds of people, mainly Sahrawis, who "disappeared" between the 1960s and early 1990s remained unclarified. Dozens of political prisoners sentenced after unfair trials in previous years remained in detention.

Background

Bomb attacks against five separate civilian targets in Casablanca on 16 May killed 45 people, including the 12 assailants. King Mohamed VI announced "the end of the era of leniency", while reaffirming Morocco's commitment to democracy, development and its international obligations.

In July the UN Security Council ratified a new plan on the status of Western Sahara, a disputed territory claimed by both Morocco, which annexed it in 1975, and the Polisario Front, which calls for an independent state there and has set up a self-proclaimed government-in-exile in refugee camps near Tindouf, southwestern Algeria. The plan would make Western Sahara a semi-autonomous part of Morocco for a transition period of up to five years, before a referendum would allow voters to choose between independence, continued semi-autonomy or integration with Morocco. The Moroccan government rejected the plan.

Security legislation

Following the 16 May bomb attacks, a new law on "combating terrorism" was adopted by parliament and entered into force on 28 May. The law contained a broad and unspecific definition of "terrorism". It extended the legal limits for pre-arraignment detention, when a suspect is held without charge or judicial review in the custody of the security forces, to a maximum of 12 days in "terrorism" cases, four days more than the previous maximum. It also restricted the suspect's access to legal counsel during this period, when detainees are most at risk of torture or ill-treatment. In addition, the law widened the scope of the death penalty.

Clampdown on Islamists

According to official statements, judicial proceedings were brought against over 1,500 people suspected of involvement in the May attacks or of planning or inciting other violent acts attributed to Islamists. Several hundred were sentenced to prison terms ranging from a few months to 30 years, and at least 50 were sentenced to life in prison. At least 16 people were sentenced to death and remained in custody. No executions have taken place in Morocco/Western Sahara since 1993.

Dozens of those sentenced were allegedly tortured in custody to extract confessions or to force them to sign or thumbprint statements they rejected. In many cases, suspects were reportedly tortured while held in secret and unacknowledged detention by the Directorate for the Surveillance of the Territory (the internal intelligence service), even though this body had no authority to carry out criminal investigations. The torture allegedly took the form of beatings, forced insertion of objects into the anus, suspension of the body in contorted positions, and the threat of rape of the detainee or the detainee's relatives (usually female). Since 2002 there has been an alarming upsurge in the number of allegations of torture and ill-treatment, after a period in which reported cases had dropped significantly.

• Abdelhak Bentassir was arrested in May, accused of being the coordinator of the Casablanca attacks. According to the authorities, he was arrested on 26 May and died of pre-existing heart and liver complaints as he was being taken to hospital on 28 May before his questioning had been completed. The authorities announced that an autopsy had concluded that he had died of natural causes. The family of Abdelhak Bentassir said that he had been in good health before the arrest and was actually detained on 21 May, five days before the officially announced date of detention. The family was apparently not informed in advance that the autopsy would be performed so they were denied the opportunity to have their own independent doctor present.

Harassment of human rights and civil society activists

Dozens of Sahrawi human rights and civil society activists, particularly those perceived to advocate the independence of Western Sahara, were harassed and intimidated by the authorities. Some were arrested, remanded in custody and brought to trial on apparently politically motivated charges. Others were prevented from leaving the country to raise human rights concerns outside Morocco and had their passports confiscated. Some were members of the Western Sahara branch of the human rights organization Forum for Truth and Justice. The branch was dissolved by the authorities in June on the grounds that the organization had undertaken illegal activities that were likely to disturb public order and undermine the territorial integrity of Morocco. The activities deemed to be illegal appeared to relate solely to members of the organization exercising their right to express peacefully their opinions on self-determination for the Sahrawi people and disseminate views relating to human rights issues.

• Salek Bazid, a member of the Western Sahara branch of the Forum for Truth and Justice, was sentenced in March to 10 years' imprisonment. His conviction was based solely on a statement that he was allegedly forced to sign following torture in police custody in September 2002 and which he later withdrew in court. The statement recorded him "confessing" to having instigated outbreaks of violence in Western Sahara between 2000 and 2002. Salek Bazid said he was beaten while his feet and hands were tied together.

Although Moroccan human rights organizations and civil society activists were generally able to carry out their activities without harassment, at least two members of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights were allegedly tortured while being questioned in police custody following arrest.

Restrictions on freedom of expression

The monarchy and the status of Western Sahara remained forbidden subjects for public discussion, including by the press. Several people, including journalists and political activists, were imprisoned after peacefully expressing views on these issues.

• Prisoner of conscience Ali Lmrabet, editor of two independent newspapers, Demain Magazine and Doumane, was sentenced in June to three years' imprisonment and a fine of 20,000 dirhams (approximately US$2,000), and his newspapers were banned. He was convicted of "insulting the King", "undermining the monarchy" and "threatening [Morocco's] territorial integrity". The charges were based on several articles, cartoons and a photo-montage that appeared in his newspapers.

In the wake of the May attacks in Casablanca, several journalists were sentenced to up to three years' imprisonment on charges such as disseminating false information and inciting violence after publishing the views of suspected Islamists.

Women's rights

In October King Mohamed VI announced a series of proposed reforms to the Personal Status Code aimed at improving women's rights. These included raising the legal age for women to marry from 15 to 18, imposing severe restrictions on polygamy, and giving husband and wife equal and joint responsibility over the family. Provisions governing inheritance rights, which discriminate against women, were to remain largely unchanged.

Redress for crimes in previous decades

In November King Mohamed VI approved a recommendation by the official human rights body to establish an Equity and Reconciliation Commission to look into "disappearance" and arbitrary detention cases in previous decades. The Commission would follow up work already undertaken by the Arbitration Commission on Compensation, which, according to an official statement in November, had awarded compensation to some 4,500 victims or family members since being set up in 1999. The new Commission would extend the scope of reparations given to victims and their families, try to locate the remains of those who died in detention, and produce a report summarizing the findings of up to a year's research into "disappearances" and arbitrary detentions. However, the proposal indicated that thorough investigations were not being planned, the identification of individual responsibilities had been categorically excluded and criminal prosecutions had been rejected.

Despite an increased willingness by the authorities to engage with the issue of "disappearances", several hundred people who "disappeared" after arrest between the mid-1960s and early 1990s remained unaccounted for. The vast majority were Sahrawis, arrested in the turbulent period immediately following Morocco's annexation of Western Sahara in 1975. Their families have not received any information from the authorities about their relatives, let alone an acceptance of responsibility. Not one person responsible for ordering or carrying out these "disappearances" has been prosecuted. Some perpetrators allegedly committed gross violations over long periods, including some who were still members or even high-ranking officials of the security forces.

UN human rights mechanisms

In November the UN Committee against Torture expressed concern at the increase in the number of allegations of torture and "the considerable extension of the limit of pre-arraignment detention, the period during which the risk of torture is greatest". The Committee called for prompt and impartial investigations into all torture allegations and an end to impunity.

In July the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women called for Morocco to address the issue of violence against women, including domestic violence, by adopting specific legislation on domestic violence, prosecuting and punishing adequately those responsible, and ensuring victims have immediate means of redress and protection.

In June the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed concern that the "incidence of economic exploitation [of children] remained widespread" and that domestic servants, mostly girls, were "subjected to harsh work conditions and abuses".

Polisario camps

The Polisario Front freed nearly 550 Moroccan prisoners of war who had been detained in its camps, some for over 20 years. However, more than 600 remained in detention, despite an end to armed hostilities between the Polisario Front and the Moroccan authorities in 1991 following a cease-fire brokered by the UN.

Those responsible for human rights abuses in the camps in previous years continued to enjoy impunity. The Polisario authorities failed to hand over perpetrators still resident in the camps to the Algerian authorities to be brought to justice, and the Moroccan government failed to bring to justice the perpetrators of abuses in the Polisario camps present on its territory.

AI country reports visits

In October AI delegates met victims of torture and their families, human rights activists and members of Morocco's human rights body, and lawyers in Rabat, Casablanca and Laayoune.