Moroccan BDS Leader Sion Assidon in Coma: Mysterious Circumstances Spark Investigation

On Monday, Sion Assidon was transferred to the hospital "in a state of unconsciousness", the Moroccan Observatory against Normalization said in a statement signed by its president Ahmed Ouihmane. The organization expressed its "deep concern" about his hospitalization. It also expressed its "full solidarity" with the septuagenarian activist and his family and wishes him a speedy recovery. It hopes to see him "regain his health quickly in order to continue his commitment".

Assidon was hospitalized in Mohammedia and underwent "a delicate brain operation last night", Ouihmane said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. But he is in a coma. "According to information circulating in his entourage and among opponents of normalization, his body shows suspicious signs that require a more thorough medical and security investigation to determine the circumstances of what really happened," he added.

According to sources close to Assidon, the activist is said to have fallen from a staircase or a ladder while pruning trees at his residence on Saturday. After the incident, he managed to reach his living room and sit on a sofa, but remained unconscious until Monday. It was a concerned colleague who did not show up for a meeting who went to his home and found him in this state. But these explanations are far from convincing the Mohammedia prosecutor’s office. It immediately ordered an investigation.

Sion Assidon was born in 1948 in a Jewish family, in Casablanca. A emblematic figure of the far left, he spent twelve years in prison between 1972 and 1984 for undermining state security. In 1996, he co-founded the anti-corruption association Transparency Maroc. In 2010, he launched the Moroccan branch of BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions).