ICTJ in the News

December 22, 2004

Morocco tries to come clean on past human rights abuses

Agence France Presse

In what has been hailed as a first in the Arab world, Morocco this week opened public hearings about widespread human rights abuses in the Muslim kingdom during a 43-year period that followed independence from France in 1956.

The hearings, which began Tuesday and are being broadcast live on national radio and television, are organized by the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER).

The IER, a state body empowered by King Mohammed VI to look into rights violations prior to his accession to power in 1999, is expected to hear testimony from some 200 people in 10 cities during a period of 10 weeks.

Six people testified on Tuesday, including a former professor of French, Bechari Dahou, who described his arrest in 1973 simply for being a member of a left-wing party and the national union of teachers.

Dahou, whose wife was pregnant at the time of his arrest, described how he was held in conditions "nothing less than barbaric" until his release in 1977, when he finally met his son.

In accordance with the rules set by the IER, those testifying during the hearings are not allowed to reveal the names of people responsible for the torture and other rights violations carried out during a period known in Morocco as "the years of lead".

Those years cover the period under the rule of the late King Hassan.

Though criticized by the Moroccan Association on Human Rights (AMDH) for not going far enough, the hearings have been welcomed by other rights groups as an unprecedented move in the North Africa and Middle East region.

"The impact of these hearings ... will be enormous, not only in the country but throughout the region, said Hanny Megally, of the US-based International Center for Transitional Justice.

"It is almost unheard of in this part of the world for victims to be given an official platfrom to relate their experiences of abuse."

The hearings were also welcomed Wednesday by the local press as well as various political parties.

But many human rights activists in Moroccow say the hearings do not go far enough, as those responsible for the torture and killing of political dissidents will not be identified and punished.

Abdelhamid Amine, head of AMDH, the country's main independent rights group, said that while the hearings were a positive step, rules preventing witnesses naming their torturers gave impunity to many who still held important positions in government.

He and other critics also denounced the fact that the hearings only covered the years between 1956 and 1999, saying that abuses have taken place after that period.

Morocco was ruled by King Hassan for 38 years between 1961 and 1999 when he died and was suceeded to the throne by his reform-minded son, now aged 41. The current king has been accused by rights groups of adopting counter-terrorism laws that curtail human rights.