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During a ceremony held Wednesday in Strasbourg to award the 2018 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought winner, Ahmed Zefzafi delivred a speech written by his son Nasser, a leading figure of the Hirak movement.
In a video made public on the 12th of December, the father spoke on behalf of his son, who is a finalist for the Sakharov Prize. Sentenced to 20 years in prison for leading Hirak protests in Al Hoceima, Nasser Zefzafi congratulated in his letter Oleg Sentsoven, the Sakharov Prize winner, and MEPs who voted for his nomination.
The eruption of the Hirak movement
Before outlining the way in which he was arrested in Al Hoceima, Nasser Zefzafi recalled the events that took place in the Rif region in 1818, 1821, 1926, and 1958.
«The Rif has suffered, suffers and will suffer because of the permanent marginalization that is deliberately imposed to bring about poverty, unemployment, illiteracy and other negative consequences», stated the Hirak detainee.
Zefzafi then referred to the eruption of the Hirak movement, recalling the death of fishmonger Mohcine Fikri, who was crushed in a garbage truck after his goods were confiscated, and the demonstrations that followed this incident.
«At that time, during the protests and sit-ins I called for the implementation of three main demands : A university, building a hospital specialized in cancer treatment and the creation of job opportunities», he stressed.
Zefzafi insisted that the protests that took place in Al Hoceima were peaceful ones that called for «Freedom, dignity and social justice».
«Robbed, kidnapped and tortured»
After going through the history of the Hirak movement, Hirak figure Nasser Zefzafi reported how he was «robbed, kidnapped and tortured» by the authorities. Zefzafi said that the authorities «raided» his house and «robbed it in a barbaric way after the door was destroyed» while he was not there.
The parents of Nasser Zefzafi./Ph. DR
According to his speech, authorities searched «his place and checked every object as if they were looking for something but did not know what it was».
Moving to his arrest, Nasser Zefzafi said that «on May 29th, 2017 [he] was kidnapped from a place on the coast after the area was besieged by warships, military helicopters and military vehicles accompanied by large numbers of heavily armed soldiers».
Nasser Zefzafi said that he was «subjected to torture». «I was beaten with sharp objects», he recalled, adding «I was also subjected to physical, verbal and moral torture and the most extreme form of torture: rape».
The Hirak figure said that he was transferred by a helicopter to Casablanca and was «filmed in the ‘Brigade Nationale’'s facilities naked and the video was published on an online newspaper called Barlamane.com».
At the end of his speech, Nasser Zefzafi denounced the sentence he was handed down by the Casablanca Appeal Court.
For the record, Nasser Zefzafi made it to the shortlist of the three finalists voted by the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Development Committee, earlier in October. He was first nominated by Dutch MEP Kati Piri and was backed by 42 other MEPs in Brussels.
