Morocco Refutes Amnesty International’s Human Rights Assessment in Annual Report

According to the Moroccan government, which has taken note of the content, the annual report covering 19 countries in the MENA region "fails to recognize the efforts of the Kingdom of Morocco in promoting human rights." This is the response of the kingdom’s authorities following this annual publication by Amnesty International on the human rights situation in North Africa and the Middle East for the year 2019, presented last Tuesday in Rabat.

The Moroccan leaders believe that the NGO continues to dwell on general and factual data and assessments, which lack objectivity. Also, the information contained in the report is "unfounded and contrary to the reality of events." In other words, they do not take into account the government’s efforts, for example, in the field of torture prevention, with the establishment of the national mechanism, in accordance with Morocco’s international obligations in this regard.

Regarding journalists, bloggers, artists and activists prosecuted for peacefully expressing their opinions, the government has judged that it is "an assessment containing a lot of abuse and prejudice," arguing that the judiciary remains the only competent authority to rule on all the cases submitted to it.