Moroccan jail fire: official charged

A top prison official was charged with involuntary homicide over the deaths of 50 inmates in the fire that raged early this month in the Sidi Moussa prison in the Atlantic coastal city of El Jadida, 200 km south of Rabat.

Bouchaid Meftal was chief warden at the Sidi Moussa prison, when the fire swept through the overcrowded jail earlier this month.

According to a statement released Wednesday by the ministry of justice, Meftal was also accused of failing to assist people in danger.

The prison director was dismissed from his position, pending findings of the investigation on the blaze circumstances.

The penitentiary facility, opened in 1994, has an accommodation capacity of 940 but was hosting 1,313 prisoners.