Prominent Moroccan Surgeon Weeps During Human Trafficking Trial

Emotion at the last hearing of the trial of Dr. Tazi and his co-defendants. At the bar, the nurse, head of reception at the Chifaa clinic, who is being prosecuted in detention, rejected all the accusations of manipulation of donations, exploitation of the misfortunes of poor patients or falsification of invoices, reports the Arabic daily Assabah, adding that the accused said that "Dr. Tazi rarely intervened in the administrative circuits of the establishment". According to her, the famous plastic surgeon instructs the various services of the clinic to take care of any emergency case and to rescue it immediately without waiting for the details of the patient’s file.

These statements caused emotion. Dr. Tazi collapsed in tears in the dock. "Since I behave this way with patients, why am I in prison," he wondered. The presiding judge, Ali Tarchi, then decided to postpone the trial to October 5.

Dr. Tazi, his brother, his wife and five other people are separately accused of human trafficking, exploitation of the vulnerability of people for commercial purposes, fraud against benefactors acting in good faith, falsification of treatment invoices and medical records, exploitation of minors suffering from chronic illness, forgery and use of forgeries and the formation of a criminal gang. The criminal chamber of the court of first instance of the court of appeal in Casablanca had rejected on April 13 their request for provisional release.