Ahmed Herzenni: I am a not a victim but a militant opposed to all forms of injustice and exploitation

"I am not a victim but a militant opposed to all forms of injustice, exploitation and arrogance," said former detainee Ahmed Herzenni, as he testified in the 2nd session of public hearings broadcast live on Wednesday by the Moroccan first TV channel (TVM).

In his testimony, Herzenni stressed that he was not born « opponent » but that, his parents, his brothers, mainly his elder brothers (the late Mohamed, and Abdellah who was present at the session) and his Moroccan and foreign teachers taught him to stand up for human dignity.

Herzenni recalled that his political action was to purchase a portrait of the late HM King Mohammed V at the market of the city of Sefrou, on the day of the announcement of Morocco's independence on November 18, 1955.

"On this day, he recollects, my father gave us the equivalent of one dirham and we headed to the market of Sefrou to buy a portrait of the late HM Mohammed V and, since then, and until I started high school, I never missed the passage of the royal cortege in the cities where I was," he says.

"We were always on the frontlines, as the radio would then say, taking part with enthusiasm in welcoming the King's cortege," he went on.

He also recalled how he "voluntarily integrated the opposition after feeling, like other youth from the poorest social layers, that one of the gains of independence, namely the right to education and to social ascension through school was threatened, first of all by the exclusion of pupils and by the degradation of the public school level and radians to the benefit of foreign schools."

After recalling that he became an opponent in the 60's and that he was resolved to face repression, Herzenni said that what he blames the Moroccan state for at that period, was not only the fact that it repressed him, but rather the fact that repression was disproportionate compared to the committed acts.

"we wanted to combat it (the State), while it reacted using tanks," says Herzenni.

He pointed out that the late Abderrahim Bouabid visited him before his trial started and that he was mandated by the attorney, "the martyr of the Moroccan democratic movement," Omar Benjelloun, who was himself arrested in another case.

After knowing the charges, the late Bouabid said the case was a simple violation of the press law and that it did not deserve more than three months.

"I was sentenced to 15 years in jail," he said deeming that the sentence would have been heavier, as it was the case for several teenagers who were condemned to life sentence, if he had not been one of the first detainees.

This refers to a highly serious issue, the absence of the independence of justice at that period, said Herzenni who wondered whether the State or judges should be blamed for this situation.

The state did not limit its repression to the concerned persons but it went beyond to relatives and parents, and even their descendants, in some cases, he insisted.

He recounts that he was detained with the two brothers of his comrade, friend and brother, Mohamed Bari, who was then a teenager, adding that this latter spent in the police precinct more time than the other detainees.

He also recalls that after their release, one of the two brothers left Morocco without returning.

My wife at that time was also arrested and had to spend more time than me in the police precinct, he relates, adding that the spouse of his best friend had a miscarriage because of the suffering she endured.

Herzenni also recounts how his sisters Latifa, Khadija and Amina, as well as his younger brother Driss, who were then pupils at the primary and secondary schools, were harassed by people close to the security apparatus that did not hesitate to follow them for several weeks, not to say months, and uttering insults against their brothers Abdellah and against him.

Evoking the torture to which he was subjected, Herzenni notes that he had his share which is however "below what other persons suffered." "I tend to feel pity towards these torturers who failed, despite their methods, to affect the dignity of proud people."

Despite all this, the moment of equity and reconciliation that "we are living commands to concede that the past period was not only made of darkness and that its men were not all symbols of absolute evil," he noted, explaining that a minimum of public freedoms was preserved, including the freedom of meeting, organisation and speech.

He also underscored the achievements accomplished as regards the preservation of territorial integrity in terms of foreign policy and economic development, considering, in this context that "it would be difficult to recognize the role played by the late HM King Hassan II may God rest his soul."

Meanwhile, he also confided that he was not "an angel" and that his culture was not necessarily democratic as he did not rule out using violence as a means to reach what he thought was "the right path."

In his testimony, he also prayed for the rest of the soul of the late HM Hassan II and other deceased persons, such as Mehdi Ben Barka, Omar Dahkoun, Mahmoud Bennouna, Jbiha Rahal, Mustapha Ouali, Brahim Tizniti, Zeroual and Saida Mnebhi.

He also prayed the almighty to grant long life to His Majesty King Mohammed VI stressing that, "without his democratic mind, and will to shield the country against all dangers, today's meeting would not have taken place, opening a new era of reconciliation in Morocco, of progress and of glory."

Herzenni also expressed wishes of success to the sovereign's collaborators, particularly the members of the Justice and reconciliation Commission, human rights militants and all those concerned about the future of Morocco.

If Morocco is described as "a country of missed opportunities," it is important not to miss this one, pointed out Herzenni, stressing that the Moroccan people and youth will face all those, open conservative people or those seeking radical and global change, who would seek to frustrate this chance.

"In order to definitively renounce despotism, under-development and dissension, the country needs a national public school able to train the youth and give them equal chances of social improvement, a school to acquire knowledge and teach the essence of a dignified life," he argued.

"There is also a pressing need for an independent justice whereby judges stick rigorously to the legal texts and to their consciences," he went on, stressing "we all need to learn something called individual responsibility both in terms of punishment and in retribution," in order not to extend repression, as it was the case in the past, to the family and relatives of the author of an offense.

To this end, he added, it is important to reconsider the issue of schools and education from the point of view of content that should deepen the sense of dignity, through an education based on the Moroccan identity and open on the values of justice and virtue.

"This is the compensation to which I aspire," he said. This is my last will that I will not change as long as I am living and that Morocco is living" he concluded.

Born in 1948, Ahmed Herzenni was arrested on February 22, 1972. He was detained until March 10 of the same year at the police precinct of Derb Moulay Chrif in Casablanca, before being transferred to the "Ghbila" civil prison in the same city where he remained until August 1973 when he was taken to the central prison of Kenitra before being released on August 22, 1984.