Former detainee Skounti: we aspire to real democracy that fights corruption and guarantees equality

Ali Skounti said that he and his companions of fight aspire to "a real democracy that fights against corruption and guarantees equality."

Skounti, who was delivering a testimony as part of the hearings into human rights abuses committed in Morocco between 1956 and 1999, expressed the wish that Justice and equity Commission (French acronym IER) would achieve this aim.

"We militated because we believed in our citizenship," he said during the 4th session of the kind held Wednesday in the southern-central town of Errachidia by the IER, set up in January 2004 to seek out-of-court settlement of past human rights abuses.

He also voiced confidence in the Commission, which includes many human rights militants, to support reforms taken in the kingdom and to serve public interest for the prosperity and the international prestige of our country.

Skounti highlights the need to eradicate discrimination in education, to fight against corruption and to promote equality values. He also called for breaking the isolation of Errachidia which suffers from poor basic infrastructures such as electricity and roads.

He further recounted how since he was arrested on March 8th 1973, he was held in the most dreadful detention centres in Morocco. The first chapters of the journey took him to Mlako and Goulmima centres, then he was transferred to the Anfa airport detention centre "Corbis." The worst was left for the end as he was transferred to the notorious Derb Moulay Cherif detention centre in Casablanca. A military court condemned him to life prison.

Born in 1932, Skounti was released in 1980 following a royal pardon.