Rights violations victims revisit post-1984 events
Morocco, Politics, 5/5/2005

Victims of human rights abuses that occurred in Morocco between 1956 and 1999 in the northern region of Al-Hoceima delivered on Tuesday evening their testimonies on violations they sustained following the events of 1958-1959 (known as the Rif events) and of 1984 social upheavals in the region.

The 7th public hearing session of the kind held by the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (IER), an institution set up in January 2004 to seek out-of-court settlement of these human rights violations and reconcile Moroccans with their past, started after a 5-hour long delay.

Abdelhakim Benchemmach, who was arrested in 1984 in the Beni Bouyach village because of his participation in the activities of the National Union of Moroccan students (UNEM), bravely looked at his past saying "I have triumphed over my torturers, because I kept my physical strength and psyche balance after I left prison," insisting that he does not seek the prosecution nor a revenge of the torturers.

Benchemmach, who was transferred in several detention locations before serving a two year-prison sentence in the prison of Oujda laments, however, that "he can't forget the deep and unfair wound" and the overwhelming feeling of sadness, regret and wrath, mostly because of the inability to find an answer to his daughter's question on his perpetual state of gloom and anger.

"My only crime, he went on, is my adherence to the dream and hopes of a Moroccan university with freedom of thought." It cost me and my family indescribable forms of torture, including the scorching of my parents' reserves of wheat.

For Abdallah Bouddount, who was arrested in Nador, the hearing sessions are an indication of a will to unleash memories and of a bolder perception of human rights violations. These sessions, he said, will help preserve memory, revisit the past, approach problems soundly and, consequently, set in place the legal guarantees to avoid the repetition of such breaches.

Bouddount, who narrates how he was tortured following his arrest in 1984 for taking part in students demonstrations and how he was sentenced to 5 years in jail, said his suffering did not end with his release. He was again summoned to answer questions and threatened that he would be jailed again. Later, he could not find a job even though he had a higher education diploma in social sciences.

Bouddount called for shedding light on the fate of all inhabitants of the region who are still unaccounted for, giving families corpses of their dead relatives and lifting all obstacles that still hinder the social integration of victims. Any reconciliation effort, he went on, should include enforcing a social policy that would help heal the past wounds and integrating the civilization and human dimensions in the equity concept.

Another victim, Abdessalem Boutayeb, said the hearings contribute to shaping the future of Morocco. He urged the State and public institutions to recognize their errors if truth is to triumph and the recurrence of similar practices is to be avoided.

Boutayeb who was arrested for belonging to the UNEM said he was held in the police station for a week, before being taken to a secret location in Oujda, and sentenced to 18 months of prison, and to three years by an appeal court.

He also recounted the chilly nights he spent in prison where inmates slept on the floor, with their hands and feet shackled.

In the same session that lasted till dawn, Mrs Hanfida El Yaazoubi, sister of one of the victims, said "all we want is that my brother gets medical care, if he still has a chance to be cured."

She narrated the sufferings sustained by her brother Farid, a carpenter arrested as he was 21 years old, and who was accused of "endangering the state security." How can an illiterate youth endanger state security?, she wondered.

"Farid was sentenced to three years in prison and he felt sick during his imprisonment." When he got out of prison, doctors were unable to diagnose his disease. He is now paralysed and affected by partial blindness, she grieved.

Our family only wants the IER to pay for the treatment of Farid, she movingly said.

Similar hearing sessions were held in six Moroccan cities since last December by the IER,.

The initiative is hailed by several countries and organizations as a bold and unprecedented one in the Arab world.

Previous Stories:
  Moroccan journalists 'deliberately' targeted, Press Union   (5/4/2005)
  European parliament hails Morocco's efforts in human rights   (4/29/2005)
  Reconciliation commission 'courageous and daring step' to step up democracy, French Senators   (4/28/2005)

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