Articles for Morocco

On the morning of 3 December 2009, Doha Aboutabit, a 25 year-old doctor of dual French-Moroccan nationality, was arrested by four police officers at her parents' home in Rabat. She was immediately take to Al-Maarif police in Casablanca. During her detention she was psychologically tortured for 12 days and exposed to cruel treatment.
Younes Zarli and Said Ezziouani were allegedly abducted by officers of the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DST) on 11 and 12 April 2010 in Casablanca and have since vanished.

At 1pm on 11 April 2010, a plain clothed security officer, posing a someone else, asked Younes Zarli to come down from his apartment and join him downstairs in front of his building. He has since disappeared following the incident. Younes Zarli, 29, lives with his family in Casablanca and is married with a child.

On 29 March 2010, Adnan Zakhbat was abducted by four plain clothed security officers outside Zahra Mosque and taken to an unknown destination. He has since disappeared. Following his disappearance, the Moroccan authorities have refused to acknowledge his arrest and his family has been left without any recourse in their efforts to locate him.

Adnan Zakhbat, 27, lives in Berrechid, a small town 70km south of Casablanca and is a married father of two.

On 30 March 2010, 21 year-old Abdelrahim Lahjouli, a resident of Casablanca, was abducted from his home by anonymous gang of six individuals who presented themselves as police officers. Following his abduction he was taken to an unknown destination and has since disappeared.

Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) on 8 April 2010 requesting their intervention with the Moroccan authorities.

Otman Babi, who was disappeared by security services officers after his arrest on 10 March 2010, has reappeared after being transferred to Salé and then appeared before the Investigating Judge at Rabat's Court of Appeals on 22 March 2010.

On 22 March 2010, Alkarama submitted Otman Babi's case as an urgent appeal to the Working Group on Enforced Disappearances (WGEID) requesting its intervention with the Moroccan authorities.

While studying in his home in Agadir, Abdelkarim Azzou was arrested on 21 June 2003 by police and security services. He was forcibly arrested by four officers dressed in civilian clothing who took him into custody without providing a warrant. His family was only able to re-establish contact with him a month later.
On 25 June 2009 Alkarama and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked the UN Special Rapporteur to investigate the case of Abou Al Kassim Britel, an Italian citizen victim of the illegal CIA "extraordinary rendition".

Human rights groups today asked two U.N. Special Rapporteurs to investigate the case of Abou Elkassim Britel, an Italian citizen and victim of the CIA's unlawful "extraordinary rendition" program who is currently held in a Moroccan prison based on a confession coerced from him through torture. The American Civil Liberties Union and Alkarama for Human Rights requested that the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and the U.N.

Since the beginning of March 2009, and in the context of the international campaign for the ratification of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance , the FEMED (Euro-Med Federation against Enforced Disappearance), the ICAED (International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance), Aim for Human Rights, the AMDH (Association Marocaine des Droits Humains - Moroccan Association for Human Rights), the OMDH (Organisation Marocaine des Droits Humains - Moroccan Organization for Human Rights), the FMVJ (Forum Marocai