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Morocco/Western Sahara

  • EBRD: Use Expansion to Promote Rights
    May 18, 2012
    The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) should articulate concrete human rights benchmarks for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia as it expands its operations into the Middle East and North Africa.
  • Comments on the EBRD's Technical Assessments for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia
    May 17, 2012

    Human Rights Watch takes this opportunity to comment on the EBRD’s technical assessments for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. Below, we highlight omissions and developments since the drafting of the assessments, which we encourage you to reflect in drafting the upcoming country assessments and operational priorities for these countries.

  • Letter to President Mirow Regarding EBRD Country Assessments and Operational Priorities for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia
    May 17, 2012

    We write to urge you to ensure that the EBRD’s upcoming process of creating country assessments and operational priorities for Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia is used to provide an honest assessment of these countries’ commitment to and application of the principles articulated in Article 1 of the EBRD's founding agreement. In particular, we urge you to articulate concrete benchmarks in these country assessments, underlining the steps each government should take to work toward the Article 1 principles. 

  • Morocco/Western Sahara: No Action on Police Beating of Rights Worker
    May 15, 2012
    The failure of Moroccan authorities to follow through on investigating the beating by police of a Human Rights Watch research assistant is a case study of impunity for police violence.
  • Morocco: Prison for Rapper Who Criticized Police
    May 12, 2012
    The sentencing of a rapper on May 11, 2012 to one year in prison for “insulting the police” shows the gap between the strong free-expression language in Morocco’s 2011 constitution and the continuing intolerance for those who criticize state institutions. The sentence was handed down one week before the opening of the international Mawazine music festival in Rabat, which is held under the patronage of King Mohammed VI.
  • Morocco: Drop Charges Against Detained Rapper
    Apr 18, 2012
    Moroccan authorities should drop charges and release a rapper who has spent three weeks in pretrial detention on charges that he insulted the police in his songs and a video set to his music. Police arrested Mouad Belghouat, known as “al-Haqed” (the sullen one), on March 29, 2012, because of a YouTube video with a photo of a policeman whose head has been replaced with a donkey’s. The lyrics denounce police corruption.
  • Letter to Ambassadors of UN Security Council Member States in Favor of Enlarging MINURSO's Mandate
    Apr 12, 2012
    Human Rights Watch urges the Security Council, when it reviews the mandate of the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO) this month, to extend it to incorporate human rights monitoring in Western Sahara and in the Polisario Front-run refugee camps near Tindouf.
  • Morocco: Girl’s Death Highlights Flawed Laws
    Mar 23, 2012

    Morocco should enact a meaningful law on domestic violence and repeal the penal code provision that in practice has allowed men accused of raping or having sex with minors to avoid prosecution if they wed their victims. A 16-year-old girl apparently took her life on March 10, 2012, after entering a marriage under these conditions.

  • Letter to Marrakesh Crown Prosecutor Regarding the Case of Police Officer Mohamed Kherbouche
    Mar 1, 2012
    July 25 will mark the tenth anniversary of the untimely death of Mr. Aït Si Rihal. During much of the past ten years, the man on trial for beating him fatally continued to report to work as a policeman and earn his salary. Then, after exhausting his appeals one year ago, he fled rather than surrender to serve his sentence, and has not been found since.
  • US/Morocco: Clinton Should Urge Legal Reform
    Feb 24, 2012

    US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton should urge Morocco’s new chief of government Abdelilah Benkirane to lead the process of revising laws that impose prison terms for peaceful expression. Clinton should also urge Moroccan authorities to free leading journalist Rachid Nini, who is serving a one-year sentence for articles he wrote.

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