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Moroccan Lawmaker Proposes Amnesty Bill for Rif Protesters and Activists
Saturday 4 January 2020, by
Omar Balafrej, deputy of the Federation of the Democratic Left (FGD) is committed to his draft law of general amnesty for the detainees of the Hirak movement of the Rif as well as for all the activists of the social protest movements. In this sense, he recently launched an appeal for support from his colleagues for its adoption in order to "appease the situation and avoid an explosion".
This draft law of general amnesty provides, according to the FGD deputies, for the release of all persons detained in the context of social protests, from October 2016 to last June and the cancellation of all the legal implications resulting from it.
Referring to Article 71 of the Constitution, Deputy Balafrej recalls that an amnesty is the responsibility of Parliament and the Government. To this end, the MP has reiterated his call to the government and parliamentarians to open a debate in parliament on the draft amnesty law.
"Morocco needs a political détente that begins with the release of all prisoners of conscience. It is time to start debating the proposal for a general amnesty. 18 months after the last call (for this debate), arrests have resumed as well as restrictions on freedoms," the deputy said to Hespress.
According to him, the Head of Government lives in another world and continues to repeat that the year is good. This optimism of the Head of the Executive is not shared by the deputy who warned against "an explosion of the situation due to the continued restrictions on freedoms".