Moroccan Human Rights Activist Jailed, Missing University of Tours Appointment

The history professor has already worked within the CITERES laboratory at the University of Tours in 2019. This year, he was still expected to work within EMAM, the Arab World and Mediterranean Team, on social movements in the Maghreb. But unexpectedly, on January 27, Monjib was sentenced to one year in prison for "fraud" and "undermining state security". Informed of his arrest, the University of Tours decided to vote a motion of support, reports France3.

For lawyer Vincent Brengarth, from the Parisian firm Bourdon, "it is very difficult to obtain precise information on this case. The judgment was rendered in his absence, by default, while he was in prison since the end of December... This is clearly a denial of justice." The NGO Amnesty International has also used the term "prisoner of conscience" about Maâti Monjib, and the support committee has obtained a large number of signatures, the same source informs.

For the Vice-President of the University of Tours, in charge of International Relations and also a specialist in Public Law and Human Rights, Colombine Madelaine, "this is clearly a terrifying instrumentalization. What is happening is terrible, Morocco, in theory, is subject to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the ICCPR. Everyone is shocked, it’s unprecedented, such a gross and blatant violation of the guarantees of the right to a fair trial."

However, Mr. Monjib’s dual French and Moroccan nationality should lead to intervention by the French authorities in this case. But already, William Bourdon and Vincent Brengarth, Mr. Monjib’s French lawyers, want to seize the Quai d’Orsay and promise actions in the coming days. They are demanding his immediate release, as they would have been informed of the deterioration of the professor’s health.