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Amnesty International denounced in a statement released, Tuesday, the thousands of arrests made during the state of health emergency in Morocco. The international NGO wrote that 91,623 arrests have been made since March 20. 558 of the arrestees are still detained for having violated the state of emergency, according to an official press release made public on May 22.
«The Moroccan authorities must stop exploiting a flawed health emergency law to prosecute human rights activists, citizen journalists and others for peacefully criticizing the government’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis», Amnesty International said today.
The NGO wrote that since the adoption of the law declaring a health emergency in the country, the authorities «have used it to prosecute at least five human rights activists and citizen journalists, accusing them of incitement to violate the authorities’ decisions during the health emergency».
«The Moroccan authorities’ introduction of prison sentences to punish those who break confinement or curfew is a disproportionate one», Amna Guellali, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said. «It is not a crime to question the government’s response to the pandemic or call out the shortfalls of its approach», she added.
The NGO referred to arrests made during the last three months, including that of citizen journalists Mohamed Bouzrou Mohamed Chejij and Lahssen Lemrabti, who are the administrators of a Facebook page named Fazaz24. It also recalled the arrest of AMDH Nador activist Omar Naji, who was later released pending his trial.
