Human rights abuses victims to testify at public hearings

The Justice and Reconciliation Commission (IER), an independent body set up last January to seek out-of-court settlement for past human rights violations in Morocco, announced on Wednesday it will hold, starting mid-December, public hearings for victims to testify on "human rights violations committed between 1956 and 1999."

The IER chairman, Driss Benzekri, told a press conference the ten week-long program of hearings will start in Rabat before being expanded to Casablanca, Kenifra, Al Hoceima, Tan-Tan, Smara Errachidia, Figuig, Fes and Tetouan.

Voluntary Participants in these public hearings, explained Benzekri, will be selected among victims or their relatives who have filed a case at the commission or among witnesses proposed by Moroccan human rights-advocacy organizations.

The commission also explained these hearings will be held in the presence of the IER members, executives of human rights organizations, cultural associations, representatives of the media, foreign and national guests and authorities.

A document released by the IER said during the hearings that will concern some 200 victims, witnesses will give a private account. They will be asked no question and their testimony will not be commented.

The IER will give participants medical and psychological support and will hold, in parallel, twelve thematic hearings dealing with issues that are closely linked to historical, legal, political and psychological aspects of past human rights abuses.

These sessions, to be held in the presence of witnesses, human rights advocates, searchers and experts, will be broadcast on the radio and TV with the aim to raise a public debate on what the media describes as "the dark pages" of Morocco's history. The general philosophy is to rehabilitate victims, unleash their testimonies and make their sufferings known.