Human Rights Watch Condemns Harsh Isolation of Jailed Moroccan Journalist Bouachrine

"Regardless of the crimes he is accused of, a detainee has the right to be treated with humanity," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch in a statement cited by the organization, adding that "the draconian isolation regime imposed on Taoufik Bouachrine is unjustified and must be lifted."

The journalist is not allowed to meet other prisoners and the guards are not authorized to speak to him, HRW writes. And while he has the right to two hours of daily exercise in a prison yard, he is always alone.

"Although he has obtained to be assigned to an individual cell rather than a collective one, Bouachrine insists that he has never requested or accepted an isolation regime cutting him off from any contact with other detainees, and prohibiting guards from speaking to him," explains his wife, Asmae Moussaoui, to HRW.

For their part, the Moroccan authorities, through the Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights (DIDH), claim that he was asked to gather his belongings when he requested to join a collective cell but he ultimately refused and preferred to remain in his cell. "The fact that he chose to remain in an individual cell, even though he was offered another choice, does not explain or justify a regime that prevents guards and other prisoners from speaking to Bouachrine," the NGO further writes.

"There is a world of difference between granting an individual cell to a detainee, and depriving him of daily contacts," said Sarah Leah Whitson. "The first measure can be humane, but the second is inhumane."