Outrage in Morocco: 5-Year-Old Naïma’s Death Highlights Media Disparities in Rural Areas

The actors of civil society have compared the treatment of the case of the little Adnane who disappeared, was raped, killed and then buried near his parents’ home in Tangier, and the case of little Naïma. They see discrimination in it. "The media platforms have disdained to travel to them in this remote corner of the kingdom and conduct their investigation (crime scene, why, when, in short, the ab initio of investigation and information)," lamented the actor Mohamed Bassou, a native of Zagora. According to him, the problem is not just the rape. "The problem is mental, geographical and of color... and we will continue to say it until we die. (...) Centralism is the killer of the country," he added.

Abdessamad Ait Benali, a human rights activist from the Zagora region, agrees: "There are several differences in the treatment between the crimes of Adnane and Naïma, not only by the media, but also by the lawyers, the officials and even the population in general." According to him, the way the two crimes have been treated confirms that Morocco is navigating in opposite directions. "The crimes of the North and the South are very similar, even if the first has seen its outcome, and the second is still under investigation," said Mr. Benali to Hespress.

"The AMDH denounces this discrimination and the dry and soft relations that come from certain media, especially the official ones. This gives us the impression that we are in a system that no one pays attention to and we suffer in silence," said Ibrahim Rizkou, head of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights branch in Zagora. He also denounced the inaction of the authorities: "The responsibility in this case lies with the authorities, especially since they received a missing person report, and did not use the necessary means to locate the victim in time and avoid the worst."

The father of the little girl was the one who was able to identify Naïma Rouhi’s body. On Saturday, the Attorney General of the King near the Court of Appeal of Ouarzazate announced the discovery of human bone remains of small size and some clothing in one of the mountains of Tafergalt, near Agdz. A judicial investigation has been opened, which has been entrusted to the Judicial Center of the Royal Gendarmerie of Zagora. The wish of the deceased’s father is that the investigators succeed in determining whether his daughter had been murdered or had died of "natural causes". He assures that he has no problem with anyone in the region.