Moroccan Activist Alleges State Surveillance and Intimidation Amid Growing Authoritarianism

"There were dozens of people who received a video sequence taken without my knowledge in my house thanks to a very sophisticated audiovisual recording device whose cameras were inserted into the air conditioning devices in each of the two rooms of the apartment. This happened after I had received very many threats urging me to withdraw from the public debate on authoritarianism and corruption, and in particular some outings on the police state following serious human rights violations in my country," he said on RFI.

The guest of Pierre Firtion confides that he has since decided to adopt a low profile without withdrawing completely from the public space. "I only intervened very rarely and in a very soft way. But repression has taken an increasingly outrageous turn in Morocco," he said, explaining the reasons that led him to truly break the omerta. "There came a time when a friend for whom I have a lot of appreciation and respect, Maâti Monjib, an internationally renowned historian, was prosecuted on a new money laundering case. I had again taken a stand saying that this prosecution was outrageous. From then on, we went back again to the defamation of the media close to the services," recounts Fouad Abdelmoumni. From then on, he refused to accept "to be the hostage of a vile system of repression, especially a system that annihilates, annihilates the intelligence of Moroccans."

The Transparency Maroc activist denounces mafia-like behaviors. "Today, what we have are mafia-like behaviors, lawless behaviors, the introduction into people’s intimacy, a behavior that does not at all give rise to accountability in total impunity," he says. While admitting that he cannot provide any clear factual evidence that any independent judge would accept, he says he is convinced that any independent, clean, honest and effective justice should account for the primary responsibility of the Moroccan state in this situation. According to him, 15 people "disturbing for monarchical authoritarianism" are victims of this defamation campaign.

"Today, there is no longer any space for an independent press, for autonomous political parties, for a healthy, serene public debate that can go to the bottom of things. We are more and more in a situation of authoritarian and violent dictatorship. [...] We denounce a drastic tightening of the illegitimate repressive behaviors of the Moroccan state. This has accelerated very strongly since 2014. We are still not out of the woods," laments Fouad Abdelmoumni.