Morocco refutes the UN’s allegations on police brutality when enforcing coronavirus lockdown

After the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights referred to Morocco when talking about police brutality in enforcing the coronavirus lockdown, the country refuted the allegations, Reuters reports.

The Kingdom’s diplomatic mission in Geneva said that it rejects said allegations, adding that the measures adopted by the country are «in line with the rule of the law in full respect of human rights».

«False information on alleged violations shared by some media are unfounded and were not mentioned in any official document of the High Commission for Human Rights», the mission said in a statement.

For the record, High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet urged several countries to refrain from violating fundamental rights «under the guise of exceptional or emergency measures».

«Emergency powers should not be a weapon governments can wield to quash dissent, control the population, and even perpetuate their time in power», she said on Monday.

While the former president of Chile did not mention names of countries, the director of field operations for the U.N. High Commissioner’s office mentioned Morocco among the 15 countries Bachelet was referring to.

For the record, the General Directorate of National Security said that it conducted more than 72,685 arrests since the start of the state of health emergency on March 20.