• Rif Nasser Zefzafi riots, from prison: "They asked me to say 'Long live the king' so that the torture would stop"

The Rabat Court of Cassation rejected on Wednesday the appeal filed by the last 8 political prisoners of the Rif People's Movement (Hirak) who are still in prison after confirming the appeal sentence issued against the activists in June 2019. The main lawyer of the Rif cause, Abdessadik El Bouchtaoi, exiled in France, indicated that the court upheld the appeal sentences and therefore

exhausted all legal avenues

to appeal those sentences. "The solution to this injustice is now in the hands of politics," the defense lawyer living in France told this medium. Eight detainees remain in prison since 2017, including

Nasser Zefzafi

, leader of the protests, and

Nabil Ahamjik

, both

sentenced to 20 years in prison.

The decision of the judges, which is more framed in a political process than the purely judicial one, has not caught the defenders of the prisoners who raised the appeals by surprise: "The trial has been political since the parties that made up the government issued a statement on May 16, 2017 accusing Hirak activists of threatening the territorial integrity of Morocco and serving foreign interests "details

The Bouchtaoi. "The arrests began ten days later. The right to a fair trial was violated from the beginning as the rights of the detainees were not respected during the preliminary investigation.

They were subjected to psychological and physical torture

by the police in Al Hoceima and Casablanca They were forced to sign statements that were not issued by them. During the process the prosecution took a stand in favor of the State without allowing the defense and the detainees to present all their arguments and evidence proving their innocence. The court relied on the content. of the reports of the judicial police to sentence the detainees to severe and unjust penalties of up to 20 years in prison "

The lawyer regrets that "when the Rabat Court of Cassation was examining the file of the detainees, the King appointed the former head of the prosecution to head the Court of Cassation. This led us to wait for an unfavorable decision for our appeal because

the prosecution was not impartial

during the trial contributing to the fabrication of charges. The system in these cases is neither independent nor neutral and this is due to the nature of the traditional Makhzen political system, which is based on the violation of rights, the suppression of freedoms and the use of the judiciary to take revenge on Rif activists. "

Some human rights activists are betting on

royal pardon

despite the refusal of the prisoners to submit a clemency request.

Zefzafi

already warned

that "a dialogue for amnesty and the end of the persecution must be opened to allow exiles to return with the guarantee of not being arrested or persecuted for their participation in the movement"

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