Morocco Unveils New Anti-Crime Strategy to Boost Public Safety

After many protests in the face of the resurgence of crime, the Government has just adopted a new anti-crime device. It will make it possible to "strengthen the security of persons and property".

According to the explanations of Mustapha El Khalfi, Government Spokesperson, this new device is part of a logic of balance between "the fight against all forms of crime and the protection of rights and freedoms", reports L’Economiste.

This reform, he specified, also aims to modernize the legal arsenal, so that it is in line with the developments that have marked criminal activities. According to the same source, the idea is also to solve certain problems, in particular, in the field of custody and pre-trial detention. Promoting the use of out-of-court reconciliation procedures, among other things, for offenses punishable by up to 5 years in prison, is also conceivable.

Among the novelties brought by the text, there is the use of audiovisual recording of interrogations during custody, the right for persons in custody to call their lawyers, from the first hour following the arrest, without requiring authorization from the Public Prosecutor’s Office, among others.