Morocco’s King Excludes Hirak Rif Protesters and Journalists from Independence Day Pardons

While Soufiane El Bahri, administrator of a Facebook page that reposts private photos of King Mohammed VI is among the 637 people sentenced by various Moroccan courts to whom the sovereign granted his pardon on the occasion of the commemoration of the presentation of the Manifesto of Independence on January 11, the Hirak Rif detainees and imprisoned journalists are excluded from this list. Moreover, the Hirak prisoners had repeatedly opposed the royal pardon because they say they are determined to prove their innocence and be acquitted of all charges. But about twenty of them well known to the movement had benefited from the royal pardon in 2020, on the occasion of the Throne Feast. They were among the 1,446 prisoners pardoned.

The Hirak Rif demonstrations had begun in northern Morocco, particularly in Al Hoceima, on October 28, 2016, after the death of Mohcine Fikri, a fish vendor crushed in a garbage truck. This merchant had died while trying to recover his seized goods. The protesters were demanding social equity and real development of the region. More than fifty of them were arrested. Their leader, Nasser Zefzafi, had been arrested in May 2017 before being sentenced the following year to 20 years in prison for "conspiracy to undermine state security".