Moroccan Teacher Faces Charges After Alleging Police Assault During Protest

After 48 hours in custody, she was prosecuted on Thursday with the 19 other protesters for "violation of the state of health emergency", "unarmed and unauthorized gathering" and "contempt of public officials", said her lawyer Souad Brahma. The young teacher is the only one to be prosecuted for "contempt of a constituted body", reports AFP.

The young teacher had confided to a local web-TV some rather serious facts. "Everything can be silenced, except the attack on our dignity which is a red line," she said, in tears, in this video that went viral. "Nezha Majdi dared to denounce sexual violence and instead of being protected, she finds herself prosecuted with unfounded accusations," said Souad Brahma, her lawyer. The trial is scheduled for May 20 in Rabat, she said.

To recall, around 85,000 teachers were recruited from 2016 on the basis of fixed-term contracts (CDD). They had launched a strike movement accompanied by demonstrations in 2019, which generally took place without incident. They had obtained to be integrated into permanent contracts within the Regional Academies of National Education.

But since the beginning of this year, they have started a new series of strikes against the backdrop of demonstrations despite the state of health emergency. They denounce their "precarious status" and demand an immediate improvement in their conditions.