Ben Khou: Tazmamart was an ordeal for a whole village

President of the Tazmamart Association for Culture and Development, Brahim Ben Khou, affirmed Wednesday that Tazmamart was not only a secret detention center, but also "an ordeal for the inhabitants of a whole village who have been besieged for several years."

"As soon as the detention center Tazmamart was built, inhabitants of the village were deprived from the sole road that linked them to surrounding areas," Ben Khou recounted at 4th session of public hearings into past human rights violations in Morocco (from 1956 to 1999), organized by the Justice and Reconciliation Commission (IER).

Ben Khou explained that cabs refused to go to the village because of the frequent searches they were subjected to by security forces who wanted to make sure of the identity of passengers.

"Pregnant women had to suffer in silence, sick people were unable to seek help and children were deprived from school from 1973 to 1977," said Ben Khou, underlining that inhabitants of the village were terrorized as they had to inform authorities on any stranger who comes to the village.

"We have become pariahs. No body dared to come visit us," he pointed out.

According to Ben Khou, inhabitants were not allowed to go out at night, and if they wanted to go look for water they had to inform authorities in advance.

"Psychologically, inhabitants of Tazmamart still suffer from the consequences of these years which they cannot erase from their memory," noted Ben Khou. As I travel, he said, I avoid mentioning that I am a native of Tazmamart because this name is a source of problems "as if we are not part of this country."

Ben Khou concluded by calling on authorities to repair the damage inflicted to the inhabitants of Tazmamart "who suffered as much as the former detainees of that prison."