online:campagne pour les detenus

IV Online magazine : IV391 - July-August 2007
Morocco
Stop the repression! For the liberation of all political detainees in Morocco!
National Authority for Solidarity with Political Detainees

The INSAD (National Authority for Solidarity with Political Detainees) is a unitary framework of the social and political left against the wave of repression which has recently hit Morocco. It promotes, among other initiatives, an activist campaign to gather a million signatures demanding the liberation of arrested and sentenced activists.
It has appealed at a press conference for active and prolonged international solidarity in all its forms. An appeal to international solidarity which ESSF wishes to fully support.
On May 1 demonstrators, notably in Agadir and Ksar el Kebir, were arrested, tortured, charged and sentenced to long prison terms (two and three years) for having chanted slogans “damaging the sacred values of the Kingdom”, which constitutes a patent violation to the right of free opinion and expression.
At Beni Mellal demonstrators were arrested following a peaceful demonstration of solidarity with those sentenced on May 1 and accused of the same crimes as them. If some were acquitted, others received suspended penalties, heavy fines or custodial sentences. Such was the case with Bougrine, a founding member of the AMDH, aged 72. He has already spent 18 years in the jails of Hassan II and his father Mohammed V, a symbol of the continuity of the repression exerted under the “reign of the three kings” since independence in 1956.
In Rabat, the national body for solidarity with the detainees of May 1st, 2007 (INSAD), bringing together several associations, trade unions and democratic organisations has appealed for a solidarity rally. The forces of order charged the demonstrators without warning and with great violence. Solidarity has become a crime. Nearly thirty people were hospitalised after being beaten, including the new president of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH), Khadija Ryadi. This police intervention was led by general Laanigri, one of the main sponsors of the 0human rights violations, institutionalised torture and disappearances under the reign of Hassan II, who remains in post.
This escalation of repression gives the lie to the official discourse of the construction of a state of law or of democratic advances. Punishment for damaging sacred values recalls the judgements of the famous “years of lead”. It seeks to discourage the combat of the democratic forces, social movements and citizens for full freedom of expression and defences of their social and democratic rights. The AMDH “recalls that repression fell on the unemployed, the workers, the civil servants, the handicapped and the defenders of human rights at a time when the persons who pillage public property, who commit political and economic crimes enjoy impunity” It is the fight for a democratic Morocco based on social justice which is targeted. We will not accept it and we bring our full solidarity to the democratic and social resistance movements. Thus, we demand the unconditional release of all political prisoners, the overturning of their sentences, and an end to repression by the Moroccan government.
PETITION
For the liberation of political detainees in MOROCCO! For an end to the repression of social and democratic resistance!
We support the activists and members of the social, trade union and democratic movements arrested and charged with “damaging the sacred values of the Kingdom” following the demonstrations of May 1 or for having simply demonstrated their solidarity. We demand their immediate and unconditional liberation, the overturning of their sentences and prosecutions as well as the full respect of the right of expression, organisation and demonstration. Our solidarity goes to those who fight for a democratic Morocco and social justice and we demand an end to all repression.
NAME/FIRST NAME:
PROFESSION
ASSOCIATION/POLITICAL GROUP/TRADE UNION:
COUNTY:
Send your signatures to this appeal to: solidaritesociale@yahoo.fr
You can also send faxes to the Moroccan authorities: Addressee:
Prime Minister: FAX: 00 212 37 768 656
Minister of the Interior: FAX : 00 212 37 762 056
Minister of Justice : FAX : 00 212 37 765 257 (email : Alaoui@justice.gov.ma
Don’t forget to send a copy of the fax to: solidaritesociale@yahoo.fr
The INSAD (National Authority for Solidarity with Political Detainees) is a unitary framework of the social and political left against the wave of repression in Morocco.