Moroccan Opposition Leader’s 1965 Paris Disappearance Still Unsolved After 55 Years

It has been exactly 55 years since Mehdi Ben Barka was kidnapped and bundled into a vehicle in front of the Brasserie Lipp on the Boulevard Saint-Germain in Paris, recalls La Croix, adding that the 45-year-old man was an anti-colonialist activist, leader of the Third World movement, and the most famous opponent of Kings Mohamed V and Hassan II. His body has never been found.

Precisely, Judge Ariane Amson, the eleventh, has just been tasked with investigating the Ben Barka case, the densest judicial investigation still open, surrounded for decades by the veil of state secrecy on both sides of the Mediterranean. This case "is not only the story of a vile political crime (...); it is a stain of indignity," which sullies France and Morocco, said the Moroccan poet Abdellatif Laâbi.

In 2007, four international arrest warrants were issued against Moroccans involved in the case; without success, due to the lack of will of France and Morocco. Currently, two are still alive, but very old: General Benslimane, former head of the Royal Gendarmerie, and Miloud Tounsi, alias Chtouki, a former secret service agent, convicted in absentia in 1967, cites the same source. "Will they only want to ease their conscience before they die?" wonders Bachir Ben Barka, Mehdi Ben Barka’s son, adding: "We have sent three letters to President Macron, who has never wanted to receive us."

"There is nothing to expect from the Moroccan side, the terrifying state rancor that prevailed in the time of Hassan II against opponents, unfortunately makes a comeback in recent years, under the reign of Mohammed VI," laments Abdellatif Laâbi.