Interior Ministry pledges to stop harassments against former exiled, political detainees

The Moroccan Interior Ministry on Tuesday pledged to stop all forms of harassments against former political detainees and activists who were living in exile.

This came during a meeting between officials from the Interior Ministry and representatives of human rights associations based abroad to examine means to end definitely abuses and harassment against these people at their departure from and arrival to Morocco.

The meeting, chaired by Mohamed Yassine Mansouri, Director General of Interior Affairs, is part of actions conducted by the Justice and Reconciliation Commission (IER). It is in line with the new dynamic in Morocco concerning human rights.

Moubarak Bouderka, IER member, said the Interior Ministry expressed at the meeting total disposal to bring to a halt these practices.

He said representatives of human right associations established in the Netherlands, France and Belgium were invited by IER to attend the meeting and to make suggestions in this issue.

According to Bouderka, officials of the Interior Ministry made practical proposals aiming to bring these practices to an end. The meeting, he said, is a new step after the start, last week, of public hearing sessions of victims of human rights abuses committed between 1956 and 1999.

On his part, secretary general of the France-based Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Morocco, Anouar Noureddine Reda, said the Interior Ministry has "voiced firm resolve to find a final solution to this problem."