Moroccan Families Urge Government to Repatriate Detainees from Syria

The National Coordination of Families of Moroccans Blocked and Detained in Syria and Iraq has received information that Moroccans are among the people released from Syrian prisons. According to them, a Moroccan citizen from the north of Morocco, precisely from Tetouan, is currently in the Saydnaya prison, where specialized teams continue to dig to reach its secret doors and its underground.

A source within the Coordination congratulated the Syrian people on their freedom and wished the country to regain its glory and prosperity. However, she is concerned about the fate of the Moroccans detained in Syria. They are in areas under the control of the "SDF" (Syrian Democratic Forces led by the Kurds). She wonders if the rebels will join these areas to free them or if they will be content with the territories controlled by the regime.

"We now know that they have stopped in Manbij, an area under Kurdish control. And thanks to our contacts with sources on the spot, we have learned that the rebels have arrived in Deir ez-Zor, which means that they currently only have Raqqa and Hassaké ahead of them, where the Moroccans are," the source told Madar21. She adds: "If the rebels decide to enter the Hassaké region, we do not know whether an American intervention will take place or not, which increases our concern for the fate of our children."

Faced with this situation, the National Coordination of Families of Moroccans Blocked and Detained in Syria and Iraq calls on the Moroccan government to break its silence and intervene to save the lives of Moroccans detained in Syria and repatriate them before a tragedy occurs. The majority of Moroccans detained in Syria are mainly in the regions of Hassaké, Ghouiran and Al-Chaddadeh, currently under the control of the SDF, she specified, without however providing precise figures on the number.

In March 2023, Habboub Cherkaoui, director of the Central Bureau of Judicial Investigations (BCIJ), had spoken about the return of fighters present in the conflict zones (Syria and Iraq). He had stated that this represented a major security challenge for Morocco. A parliamentary commission is following this file, which also falls under the competence of "other official bodies," he had added. Referring to the return of children born in the conflict zones and imbued with extremist ideologies, the official had indicated that this required psychological support. "They must also be registered in a specific register for permanent monitoring by the security authorities," he had added.