Moroccan Expats Face Bureaucratic Hurdles Retrieving Deceased Loved Ones at Casablanca Airport

At Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca, the reception by Moroccans residing abroad (MRE) of the bodies of their loved ones is a real obstacle course due to the complex and exhausting procedures. The journey begins from the place dedicated to goods to the place reserved for passengers, followed by the direction towards the national security post to complete the administrative and security formalities. Then you have to go back to the badge issuing service to return the badge, and finally go back to the goods reception service to recover the coffin after paying the due fees, we are told. According to the parliamentary opposition, the process takes at best two and a half hours. A heavy burden that adds to the grief of the bereaved MRE.

While human rights associations and the parliamentary opposition have often addressed the issue, nothing has changed so far. Concerned, Hind Bennani Rtel, a deputy from the Party of Justice and Development, is addressing a written question to the Ministries of the Interior and Foreign Affairs, questioning them about the measures taken to facilitate and simplify the service of handing over coffins to families. The elected official insists on the need to honor the dead of Moroccans of the world and to provide more humane and dignified services to them.