Moroccan Rights Council: 80% of Al Hoceima Protest News Was Fake, Report Finds

Amina Bouayach presented the results of an in-depth investigation that recounts what happened in 2016-2017. After a year of investigations and research, the CNDH concluded that "over the past three years, public opinion has only consumed 80% of fake news about the protests in Al Hoceima".

The events in Al Hoceima broke out in October 2016, following the accidental death of a fishmonger. After six months, the peaceful protests turned into "violent clashes", leading to the death of a policeman. About thirty other members of the riot police were seriously injured during these demonstrations. Nasser Zefzafi, leader of this protest movement, was prosecuted for "having interrupted the sermon" of the imam of a mosque on Friday, May 26, 2017 and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

According to Bouayach, "Zefzafi adopted a dangerous discourse inciting violence. Then, he attacked the freedom of worship and belief within a mosque," Bouayach explained, stressing that the videos of this incident are still "accessible and consultable" on YouTube.

She recalled that the CNDH experts "worked tirelessly" on the ground, interviewed dozens of people and consulted hundreds of written and audiovisual documents for 12 months on the events in Al Hoceima. "From 302,000 content items disseminated concerning the protests in Al Hoceima, we discovered more than 10,000 false content items and fake news," she specified.

During the presentation of the main lines of her report, Bouayach also addressed the controversy over the slogans of "al-Askara" (militarization) of the Rif which was mentioned by social networks during the 2017 protests. "In the past, people said that the Rif was economically marginalized... But we must not forget that administratively and politically, the Rif has always been part of the other regions of the Kingdom where administration, public services and elections take place normally," she recalls.

Among the recommendations made by the CNDH in this new report, there is a "need to revise the criminal procedure code for compliance with the Kingdom’s international commitments", "strengthening the role of the defense before any trial... and not requiring the detainee to prove allegations of torture".