Government passes draft law criminalizing torture
The Moroccan Government on Tuesday approved a draft law criminalizing torture, during a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Driss Jettou.
The draft law submitted by the Minister of Justice aims at criminalizing torture and proposes a comprehensive definition of this crime in accordance with International Convention Against torture, said Communication Minister and Government Spokesman Nabil Benabdallah.
The draft law which was announced months ago was welcomed by Moroccan and foreign human rights organizations including the US-based Human Rights Watch which praised, in its latest report published in October, Morocco's "impressive strides in human rights over the last fifteen years."
"They (the government) stated their intent to introduce a draft law criminalizing torture and to withdraw formal reservations they made when ratifying several international treaties on human rights. They vowed to carry out investigations when international or domestic human rights organizations present evidence of torture," the report stated on the topic of torture.
