Mrs Merrou Hammi: 'We lived in suffering, only'
Morocco, Politics, 2/4/2005

"We lived in suffering, only" said Mrs Merrou Hammi of the March 1973 events when her husband, Zayed Bassou, was arrested, telling of her hardships at the time, at a public hearing on past human rights violations held on Wednesday in the Southern town of Errachidia.

At the fourth session of the hearing, initiated by the Justice and Reconciliation commission (IER), set up to shed light on past violations, Mrs Hammi related the mistreatments she was inflicted during seven month after the arrest of her husband, who was detained for involvement in the 1973 events.

The 75-year-old woman said: "I still feel pain, I can't walk. They tortured us so much. We used to cry all the time. It lasted for seven and half months."

The woman spoke in Amazigh recalling how the snow and the icy cold made it harder to bear the suffering.

The 4th session of the hearings in Errachidia were attended by some 400 people, mostly victims of human rights violations in the region. Representatives of local associations, political parties, unions and local authorities attended the session, as well as Moroccan and foreign journalists. Unlike previous sessions, this latest was not broadcast live on TV and the radio because of its length, as it exceeded four hours. Most of the ten testimonies during the session were related to the events that occurred in the region in March 1973. During these events, dubbed "armed opposition," activities of the secret Ittihadi movements and those of elements of the "Tanzim" organization, that sneaked into Morocco from Algeria and Libya, spread into small groups in Khenifra, Guelmim, Tinghir and Figuig. All members of these movements were arrested by September 1973, and brought before justice in military courts which condemned 19 people to capital punishment, 15 to life sentences, while others were sentenced to prison terms up to 30 years. During operations conducted by the Royal Army Forces to crack down on these groups, serious human rights breaches have taken place in the region. IER will hold the next session of public hearings in Khenifra. The first and second sessions of the hearing were held last December in Rabat, while the third session was held last weekend in Figuig, Southeast Morocco.

Previous Stories:
  Next human rights public hearings to take place in Errachidia   (2/2/2005)
  Former detainee wife tells of the suffering of her family after her husband's arrest   (2/1/2005)
  Former detainee Boudrara: when an individual is tortured it is all the society that is harmed in its dignity and freedom   (2/1/2005)

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