Jailed Moroccan Protest Leaders End Hunger Strike After Health Deterioration

The news of the suspension of this hunger strike is communicated by Nasser’s father. In a live on Facebook, he announced that the leader of the Hirak of the Rif was urgently evacuated on Sunday to the Fez University Hospital after the deterioration of his health. According to the clinical examinations, Nasser and Nabil have lost 16 and 15 kg respectively, said Ahmed Zefzafi, who indicated that his son is still bedridden and "unable to stand up".

At the origin of this hunger strike undertaken by Nasser and Nabil, supported by other Hirak activists, the two leaders of the Hirak of the Rif were demanding, among other things, "to be gathered in the same penitentiary establishment, to be able to receive reading, proper meals and to have longer durations for telephone calls and family visits". In the wake of this, political figures have pleaded for a "constructive dialogue" with them to "preserve their constitutional rights". According to them, it is a matter of calling for a definitive settlement of the Hirak file, noting that a "positive interaction" with the "legitimate demands of these detainees" is in the "higher interest of Morocco and Moroccans", Hespress points out.

Continuing in this direction, the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH) has written to the DGAPR, urging it to "act and respond" to these detainees "deprived of their constitutional rights". Following this, Amina Maelainine, a PJD deputy, posted on Facebook that "we cannot ignore a hunger strike given the consequences not only for the health and even the survival of the detainees, but also for the image, both domestic and foreign, of Morocco and the human rights situation prevailing there".

It should be recalled that after the announcement by Ahmed Zefzafi on August 18 of Nasser and Nabil’s decision to start a hunger strike, several voices from both civil society and the political sphere have risen to call for the definitive resolution of the Hirak of the Rif file, which does not honor the image of Morocco internationally.