December 09, 2024
Washington, DC and Geneva, Switzerland – The Committee for Justice, Freedom House and MENA Rights Group praised the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention’s (WGAD) recently announced Opinion qualifying the detention of Moroccan activist Nasser Zefzafi as arbitrary, and calling on the Moroccan government to take action to release Zefzafi without delay.
Zefzafi is a Moroccan political activist and leader of the 2016-2017 Hirak Rif Movement, which sparked the largest protests in Morocco since 2011. As one of its leaders, Zefzafi advocated for significant reforms, particularly addressing the systemic marginalisation of the Rif people, whom he claims suffer from the “state’s policy of neglect”.
Zefzafi was arrested on May 29, 2017, and charged with two felonies and seven misdemeanours, including undermining the internal security of the state, contempt of law enforcement officers and participation in an armed rebellion. He stated that he was brutally tortured on the day of his arrest. The charges he faced were linked to his peaceful activism as part of the Hirak Rif Movement.
Along with Zefzafi, hundreds of protesters were imprisoned during the police crackdown which followed the largely peaceful protests. On April 6, 2019, Zefzafi was sentenced on appeal to 20 years in prison. In 2023, three organisations representing Zefzafi – Committee for Justice, Freedom House and MENA Rights Group – submitted a complaint to the WGAD and requested the group of experts to issue an Opinion on his case. The WGAD concluded that Zefzafi’s detention is arbitrary and in violation of international law.
“Zefzafi has been wrongfully detained for more than seven years, and he still has well over a decade left to serve out a sentence that should never have been imposed in the first place,” said Brian Tronic, director for the Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners at Freedom House. “The international community should remind the Moroccan government of its obligations under international human rights law and urge it to release Zefzafi without delay.”
In a recently published opinion, adopted on August 30, 2024, the WGAD found that Zefzafi was detained solely because of his peaceful protest and expression. The WGAD further assessed that the violations of Zefzafi’s right to a fair trial were so serious that they rendered his detention arbitrary. The WGAD noted that the government had not demonstrated which measures were taken to investigate his torture allegations, nor did it ensure that information obtained through ill-treatment or torture was used in the prosecution.
In its opinion, the WGAD called on the Moroccan authorities to take the necessary measures to remedy Zefzafi's situation without delay, by immediately releasing him and granting him reparation in accordance with international law. Additionally, the WGAD determined that Zefzafi’s detention is not an isolated act but rather part of a pattern targeting him due to his ethnic identity and political activism, amounting to discrimination.
“The Working Group’s decision reaffirms that Nasser Zefzafi’s imprisonment is a profound violation of fundamental rights,” Committee for Justice said. “His detention is emblematic of the wider repression faced by those who peacefully demand justice and equality. We urge Moroccan authorities to release Zefzafi without delay, grant him reparations, and address the systemic injustices that allowed this to occur. This case is a test of Morocco’s commitment to upholding its international human rights obligations and respecting the voices of its citizens.”
The Moroccan authorities must now send the WGAD their observations on how they intend to implement the recommendations contained in the decision.
“Nasser Zefzafi was one of the emblematic figures of the Hirak Rif popular movement, a movement calling for greater social and economic rights in Morocco’s Rif region. These overwhelmingly peaceful protests followed the death of Mouhcine Fikri in October 2016. Seven years after his arrest, the WGAD’s decision recognizes that Zefzafi’s detention and his 20-year prison sentence result from the exercise of his civil and political rights," said MENA Rights Group. “We join our partners in calling for Zefzafi to be freed and reunited with his family.”
Committee for Justice seeks justice for victims of human rights violations in Egypt, the Middle East, and North Africa, through raising awareness of the current situation, and supporting human rights stakeholders to contribute to enhance the Judicial system and helping victims.
Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to create a world where all are free. We inform the world about threats to freedom, mobilize global action, and support democracy’s defenders.
MENA Rights Group is a Geneva-based legal advocacy NGO defending and promoting fundamental rights and freedoms in the Middle East and North Africa region.
