PARIS, 21 July
2003
A delegation from the International Federation for Human Rights
(FIDH), composed of Patrick Baudouin, Honorary President, Souhayr
Belhassen, Vice-President of the Tunisian Human Rights League
(LTDH) and Olivier Guérin, Advocate-General at the Court
of Cassation, visited Morocco between 12 and 19 July in order
to gather any useful information on the situation of human rights
within the context of the fight against terrorism.
Following the hideous attacks that took place on 16 May 2003
leaving the country grief-stricken, the FIDH has reaffirmed
its solidarity with the Moroccan people as well as its complete
and utter condemnation of criminal acts committed. It has also
reasserted the State’s right and responsibility to fight
against terrorist acts and punish all the authors of such acts.
However, a State must carry out this fight against terrorism
with due regard for the rules of law and the FIDH expresses
serious concerns regarding this matter based upon the various
pieces of information it gathered during its visit.
As such, over the course of the year, it seems not only that,
in a number of cases, the legal time limits for holding an individual
in police custody were greatly exceeded, at times with falsified
records as to the date that custody began, but also that individuals
were arbitrarily kept in custody for several weeks. It should
be added that, since 16 May 2003, massive amounts of people,
between 2,000 and 5,000, have been called in for questioning
in poorly defined conditions.
It was brought to the knowledge of the FIDH delegation that
harsh treatment and torture (beatings, electrocution, sexual
abuse…) have been practiced over the course of police
investigations and particularly widespread in DST (Direction
de la Surveillance du Territoire) localities in Temara through
which most of the Islamists interrogated were brought. What
is more, two individuals, Abdelhak Bentasser of Fès and
Mohamed Bounnit of Taroudant, suffered suspicious deaths following
their interrogation and despite the investigations and autopsies
that were officially carried out, the numerous contradictions
that remain show that the exact circumstances in which these
deaths took place have yet to be determined. In this respect,
when police brutalities and blunders occur, the fact that impunity
still seems to be the rule must be deplored.
The FIDH delegation was alarmed by the precipitate conditions
in which verdicts for terrorist cases are rendered and which
thereby do not meet the criteria set for the effective right
to a fair trial. Regarding this matter, the following points
serve as an example: summary case file preparation, an absence
of witness hearings during proceedings, guilty assessments for
the defendants on the nearly exclusive basis of declarations
transcribed during the police phase. Even though it appears
that they are often unable to read these declarations over,
the defense being faced with obstacles in truly exercising its
rights (pressures on the appointed attorneys, poor motivation
on the part of attorneys from the clerk’s office…),
extremely heavy sentences are pronounced, including the death
penalty, on the basis of insufficient investigations and charges,
for a large number of individuals on trial.
The FIDH mission team is also concerned about the intensification,
since 16 May 2003, of harsh detention conditions for incarcerated
Islamists, particularly in the Kenitra and Sale prisons (cramped
cells, privation of newspapers and other information means,
restricted family visits…). Similarly, although they were
exceptionally authorized to visit the Ocacha prison in Casablanca,
they deplore the fact that they were unable to meet with some
detainees, the penal administration having said these prisoners
had been transferred to another establishment, while they have
proof that these individuals were indeed present at Ocacha at
the time of their visit.
All of these expressed concerns have been further intensified
by the recent promulgation, on 29 May 2003, of an antiterrorist
law whose drafting sparked strong opposition prior to the events
of 16 May. The new legislation has in fact widened the field
of incriminations stemming from antiterrorist repression, increased
the amount of sentences likely to be pronounced, raised the
number of death penalty cases, and strengthened police powers,
extending the maximum period of police custody from 3 to 12
days being a key example.
At the hour in which trials have been opened for 700 Islamic
suspects, the FIDH is calling upon the Moroccan authorities
to put a stop to these observed rights violations and the Moroccan
justice system to work with discretion at respecting the rights
for each one of the accused by only pronouncing strictly individualized
and proportionate sentences in those cases where guilt has been
proven. Regarding this last issue, in addition to its complete
opposition on the grounds of principle to the death penalty,
the FIDH is urging Morocco and its sovereign to not fall into
this confining trap and to not proceed forward with executions
that will only hand over to the extremist enemies of freedom
their long-awaited martyrs. The fight against terrorists must,
in no case whatsoever, save making the task easier for them,
lead to the adoption of some of their methods by freeing itself
of the fundamental rules of respect for the human being. |
