Human Rights Watch Condemns Prolonged Solitary Confinement of Belgian-Moroccan Prisoner in Morocco

According to the detainee’s wife, Rachida Hatti, the sexagenarian is "locked in his cell 23 hours a day and deprived of all contact with his fellow inmates" since May 2016 at the Toulal 2 prison in Meknes (center), says a statement from the Middle East and North Africa director of HRW, Eric Goldstein.

Attempts by AFP and HRW to find out more about the situation of this Belgian-Moroccan have been in vain. According to the French media and the international non-governmental organization, the General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) did not respond to their various requests.

In 2009, Abdelqader Belliraj was sentenced to life imprisonment. This sentence was upheld on appeal the following year. The Belgian-Moroccan is accused of having led a network of radical Islamists and committed six murders in Belgium between the late 1980s and the early 1990s. In court, he has repeatedly pleaded not guilty. Moreover, he is the only one sentenced to life imprisonment in a collective trial with 34 other co-defendants sentenced to prison terms of up to 30 years. Among them are political party leaders, including Islamists.

Abdelqader Belliraj’s arrest will take place on February 18, 2008 in Morocco with other suspects in possession of "a significant arsenal of firearms", according to the prosecution. Since his detention in "abusive isolation" for more than three years, only his wife Rachida Hatti, residing in Belgium, is authorized to speak to him regularly by telephone.