Rif Protest Icon’s Father Dies: Ahmed Zefzafi’s Passing Reignites Hirak Movement Debate

The activist’s father died in a clinic after a long illness, his son Tariq Zefzafi announced on social media, specifying that he was in the intensive care unit.

After the arrest of his son in May 2017, Ahmed Zefzafi had become a prominent public figure. He actively defended his son’s innocence and the legitimacy of the social demands of the Hirak movement, notably through interventions in the media and by participating in rallies for the release of the movement’s detainees.

His son, Nasser Zefzafi, is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence in Tangier. According to the prison administration, he had been granted three exceptional exit permits to visit his sick father, in June 2021, January 2024 and August 2025.