I was incarcerated for trade union reasons, Mohamed Kada

Mohamed Kada said, in Figuig Saturday, that he was incarcerated because he was an activist in the Union Marocaine du Travail (UMT).

During his testimony delivered during the third session of public hearings into human rights violations (committed from 1956 to 1999) by the Justice and Reconciliation Commission (IER), Mohamed Kada recalled the circumstances of his imprisonment and the hardships and torture he was subject to during 70's and 80's.

He said UMT's head office was attacked by Gendarmerie and police forces in Berkane while they were holding a trade union meeting.

He was arrested on March 27th 1973 without being informed of the causes of his arrest. He was transferred from Berkane to Oujda then to Casablanca where he sustained various kinds of torture. Fifty days later, he was released at night without trial.

His suffering continued even after his release since the administration he worked in asked him to provide a certificate justifying his absence.

His second imprisonment was on December 11th 1973 during a strike organised by UMT trade union, even though local authorities were pre-informed.

He was then sent to Derb Moulay Cherif detention centre in Casablanca where he spent 8 years, before being condemned to 10 years in jail for undermining public order.

He went on that the degrading situation in jail incited detainees to go on a 45 day-hunger strike. Subsequently, prison officials separated prisoners into three groups. As a result, he was sent to Chaouen prison where he spent two years.

He was transferred to the Casablanca central prison in 1979 before being liberated following a royal pardon on August 23rd, 1984.