Islamist activists among inmates amnestied by King Mohammed
Morocco, Politics, 8/3/1999

Several Islamist activists benefitted from the amnesty decreed last Friday by King Mohammed VI, a London-based Arabic daily reported.

The Islamist activists, who had their jail sentences reduced, include members of the outlawed Al-Adl Wa al-Ihsane association, Al-Hayat daily said quoting "Islamist" sources.

The royal amnesty provided for cutting two years of the jail terms for members of a 12-member student group who had been sentenced to terms of up to 20 years following the incidents of Oujda, eastern Morocco, the "Islamist" source told al-Hayat.

King Mohammed VI pardoned last Friday 46,212 prisoners on the occasion of his accession to the Alaouite Throne, following the demise last July 23 of his Late father, King Hassan II.

Some 7,988 inmates (ill, elderly, young, disabled persons and pregnant women) were granted free pardon. Another 38,224 had their prison terms reduced.

Al-Hayat said the list of amnestied persons also includes a group found guilty of involvement in the killing in 1975 of socialist figure Omar Benjelloun. Two Islamist activists were sentenced to life jail in connection with the case.

Another eight-member group, tried by a military court for illegal possession of arms in 1994, is also among the amnestied, the daily added.

"Seven prisoners serving terms of 10 to 20 years, including two members of the Algerian Islamist Salvation Army (ISA), are still detained," Al-Hayat said, quoting the same source.

Another eight-member group -- sentenced in 1996 by a military court for illegal possession of arms, to jail terms of 10 to 20 years -- is also still incarcerated, the daily said, adding that this group includes four members of the Algerian ISA.

"Islamist organizations admit that some of their activists were involved in killing operations, but they link these operations to political considerations," Al-Hayat said, deeming the release of these inmates as a stride towards the shelving once and for all of the human rights dossier in Morocco.

The late King Hassan II gave last April the green light to paying reparations to the missing persons or their families. The Human Rights Advisory Council, set up by the late king in 1990, had said that the so-called dossier of the 112 missing persons was "definitively closed."

Previous Stories:
  King Mohammed VI pardons 46,212 prisoners   (7/31/1999)
  King grants pardon to 1,807 convicts   (7/9/1999)
  King of Morocco grants pardon to 1,072 convicts   (6/26/1999)

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