Moroccan Protest Leader Zefzafi Granted Brief Prison Leave to Visit Ailing Relative

Nasser Zefzafi left Tanger 2 prison on Friday. The General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration authorized him to visit his sick grandmother hospitalized in one of the private clinics in his hometown, Al Hoceima, revealed Ahmed Zefzafi, the father of the leader of the "Hirak" movement, which agitated the Rif region in northern Morocco between 2016 and 2017, to the newspaper Al Omk. Transported under heavy surveillance, the detainee remained at his grandmother’s bedside for a few minutes before being taken back to the local prison. This is the first time he has returned to his city since his arrest. Nasser often benefits from permission to leave prison due to his health condition.

Arrested in May 2017 and transferred to a Casablanca prison after organizing demonstrations in his hometown of Al-Hoceima, Nasser, a 44-year-old former unemployed man who became the face of the Hirak, was sentenced in 2019 to 20 years in prison for "conspiracy to undermine the security of the State". Three other defendants, Nabil Ahmijeq, Wassim el-Boustani and Samir Aghid, also received 20-year prison sentences. These sentences were upheld by the Casablanca Court of Appeal.

On the occasion of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples on August 9, 2023, five international human rights organizations, namely Amnesty International, the Center for Victims of Torture, Freedom House, Human Rights Watch and POMED (Project on Middle East Democracy), called for his "immediate and unconditional release". "We have called for the immediate and unconditional release of Nasser Zefzafi, who is the subject of oppressive detention," they had demanded in a statement.