Moroccan Rights Group Demands Release of Political Prisoners Amid COVID-19 Concerns

The National Committee for the Freedom of Prisoners of Opinion and the Defense of Freedom of Expression holds the State responsible "for anything that the prisoners of opinion, political prisoners and all prisoners, in particular those whose release is called for by the Moroccan human rights movement, could suffer, as damages due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in our country, and which threatens all prisoners".

Similarly, the NGO denounced "recent arbitrary arrests" and "unfair judgments pronounced against a number of activists and prisoners of opinion". Including a "deterioration" of freedom of expression in Morocco. In this regard, it mentions "the usual accusations such as the dissemination of false information, incitement, contempt of a civil servant in the exercise of his functions, or other accusations which constitute attacks on freedom of expression and vindictiveness against activists and human rights defenders".

In addition, the Committee demands "the cessation of legal proceedings against a number of human rights activists", indicating that "the State’s policy towards users of the digital space, as a peaceful field of expression of opinion, based on repression and targeting of human rights defenders, contradicts the guidelines of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights which anticipated this situation, by warning countries against the use of exceptional laws to take revenge on activists and human rights defenders".