Overcrowded Cemeteries in Morocco Spark Crisis for Grieving Families

Is there still room in the cemeteries of Fez? According to information from the site Kech24, families are forced to move from cemetery to cemetery in search of a place to honor their deceased. At the Jouamea cemetery on the road to Ain Chqef, even the narrow passages, initially designed to allow families to visit the graves of their loved ones, are now full.

This issue has even reached Parliament. "All cemeteries, especially the old ones, are in a critical state of overcrowding and can no longer accommodate more dead," said Istiqlal party parliamentarian Allal Amraoui in a written question addressed to the Minister of the Interior. But the Fez municipal council apparently has not found a solution to relieve the families’ grief. This problem would be explained by the lack of land in the city. Instead of looking for suitable land for a new cemetery, an alternative is available to the city: create cemeteries in the suburbs as part of cooperation agreements between the local authorities concerned.

In addition to the lack of space to bury the deceased, families face another harsh reality. Most cemeteries are left abandoned. Some of them have become shelters for the homeless, vagrants, delinquents and even followers of witchcraft.