MOROCCO: Moroccan coalition against death penalty hold demonstration in Rabat's parliament square

Record ID: 731643

  • Title: MOROCCO: Moroccan coalition against death penalty hold demonstration in Rabat's parliament square
  • Date: 10th October 2008
  • Summary: (MER1) SALE, MOROCCO (RECENT) (REUTERS) VIEW OF SALE PRISON TOWER OF THE SALE PRISON SEAGULLS ON THE SALE PRISON WALL
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Morocco
  • Country: Morocco
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAB241H1LCJCN5Q0NWV5F0WJLKK
  • Story Text: The Moroccan coalition against the death penalty held a protest on Wednesday (October 8) in Rabat's parliament square, demanding the government abolishes the country's death penalty.
    The death penalty has not been implemented in Morocco since 1993, although Amnesty International says that one death sentence was handed down in 2007.
    Moroccan law allows capital punishment for anyone convicted of murder, torture, armed robbery, arson, treason, desertion or an attempt on the king's life.
    There are currently more than 130 people on death row, including 7 women in Morocco.
    However, the final verdict on execution is in the hands of the king, and King Mohammed VI has not signed a death warrant since he ascended to the throne in 1999.
    "Both the former justice minister and the former chairman of the council for human rights said that abolishing the death penalty in Morocco was only a question of time but we were then surprised by the Moroccan state refusal to vote at the United Nations to freeze the death penalty. This shows that there are lot of contradictions," said Khadija Riadi, chairperson of the Moroccan association for human rights.
    "Abolishing the death penalty is not just a plea made by the elite or a wish going against the will of the Moroccan society. Even if we believe that it is not what the Moroccans want, then we should have a dialogue about it," said Amina bouayach, chairperson of the moroccan organisation for human rights, In 2005, the King granted a royal pardon and reduced sentences to 10,000 prisoners, marking the country's 50th independence anniversary. Last year he pardoned an additional 9,000 prisoners to mark the birth of his daughter. On the same occasion, 14 prisoners have had their death sentenced reduced to life imprisonment.
    But terrorism remains the biggest obstacle to changes in the country's legal system. In May 2003, the Moroccan parliament passed a new anti-terrorism law which allows the courts to sentence those accused of terrorism-related crimes with the death penalty. By August 2005, over 2,000 people had been accused of crimes related to terrorism, 903 of them were given prison sentences, while 17 were sentenced to death.
    The campaign against the death penalty is jointly carried out by political parties from the left and by Human Rights organisations who believe that the abolition of the law will be a part of the country's democratisation.
    But some Moroccans believe the penalty should remain a part of the legal system.
    "Some crimes deserve the death penalty and some others don't. I believe that the serial killer who killed twenty people in Agadir deserves the death penalty," said one resident of Rabat.
    "In the Moroccan penalty system, the death penalty is never executed. it's just a legal verdict that is why I believe that these human right organisations should pay more attention to the daily realities of the Moroccan citizen and to what this citizen is facing", said another resident.
    A recent report by the renowned human rights activist, Al El Ouakili, suggested that death-row inmates live in sub-human conditions which are 'life threatening'.
    El Ouakili is among other activists who have recently written investigative reports on the situation in Moroccan jails. These have been confirmed by photographs smuggled out of prison showing inmates packed into cells like sardines without an inch of room to stand and step between dozens of prostrate bodies. These have appeared on Internet blogs. Most of the prisoners are held at the central jail of Kenitra, 130 kilometres north of Casablanca The last Moroccan to be executed was Mohammed Tabet, who at the time was the police commissioner and head of general intelligence. Tabet was convicted for using his position to rape hundreds of women and young girls.
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