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Human rights groups have called for the immediate release of Hirak Rif leader Nasser Zefzafi. The Committee for Justice (CFJ), which advocates for victims of human rights violations in Egypt, the Middle East, and North Africa, the US-based NGO Freedom House, and the MENA Rights Group, which focuses on human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, praised the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s (WGAD) recently announced opinion qualifying «Zefzafi's detention as arbitrary» and calling on the Moroccan government to take action to release him without delay in a joint statement.
In an opinion issued on August 30, the UN Working Group urged Moroccan authorities to address Zefzafi's situation without delay by immediately releasing him and providing reparations in accordance with international law.
The organizations emphasized that Zefzafi's detention is not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern targeting him due to his ethnic identity and political activism, which amounts to discrimination.
«Zefzafi has been wrongfully detained for more than seven years, and he still has well over a decade left to serve out a sentence that should never have been imposed in the first place», said Brian Tronic, director of the Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners at Freedom House. «The international community should remind the Moroccan government of its obligations under international human rights law and urge it to release Zefzafi without delay».
The Justice Committee stated that the Working Group's decision confirms that Zefzafi's imprisonment constitutes a severe violation of fundamental rights. «His detention is emblematic of the wider repression faced by those who peacefully demand justice and equality. We urge Moroccan authorities to release Zefzafi without delay, grant him reparations, and address the systemic injustices that allowed this to occur. This case is a test of Morocco’s commitment to upholding its international human rights obligations and respecting the voices of its citizens», the Committee for Justice said.
The MENA Rights Group additionally called for enhanced «social and economic rights in Morocco's Rif region».
Zefzafi was arrested on May 29, 2017, on charges including destabilizing the security and stability of the state, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
