Morocco: the UN appeals for the release of Sheikh Mohamed Hassan Echerif El-Kettani, arbitrarily detained for eight years

An eminent religious personality in Morocco, Mr. El-Kettani was arrested by the police in Salé on 6 February 2003 on false charges and was immediately released by the royal prosecutor. He was summoned a few days later on 13 February 2003 by the same magistrate and was arrested and detained again for the same offense (unauthorized preaching, unlawful assembly, formation of an unauthorized association, usurpation of function, criminal conspiracy).

The investigation opened immediately and revealed that the accusations against him made by the police were based on false documents and testimonials of people who later claimed to have never met him and who had never filed a complaint against him. Mr. El-Kettani remained in prison despite these facts.

After the Casablanca Attacks that took place sever months after his arrest, the Moroccan authorities decided to include him in the open investigation of the people arrested in the wake of the attacks despite the lack of evidence of any connection between the two cases.

In the course of the trial, his lawyers demanded that the witnesses of his arrest be summoned to be heard and confronted by him. This was rejected by the presiding judge and the defense was then removed from the hearing.

Although the Supreme Court of Rabat found violations of procedural rules and overturned the first judgment, the Court of Appeal upheld the first decision and the conviction of 2 May 2009, confirming the political nature of the trial and the total lack of judicial independence.

Due to the grave violations of fundamental rights, Alkarama notified the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN on 7 April 2010 to confirm that these violations took place and declare the detention of Mr. El-Kettani to be arbitrary.

To date, Mr. El-Kettani continues to be detained in difficult conditions of detention in Salé Prison. He has undertaken several hunger strikes to denounce the violation of his rights in detention at the hands of the penitentiary administration. His family has also been the objects of humiliating treatment when they have visited him at the prison, including body searches that were completely uncalled for and unnecessary. The magazines, books, and personal effects given to him during these visits were systematically confiscated in order to increase his isolation. It has been eight years since Mr. El-Kettani was imprisoned in these extremely difficult conditions. The motives for his arrest and detention were clearly political and no crime can be attributed to him. He has been the victim of a miscarriage of justice, yet the Supreme Court has not retried the case.