MENA Rights Group joins international call for the humanitarian release of Moroccan activist Nasser Zefzafi

H.M. King Mohammed VI 

Rabat, Morocco 

July 29, 2025 

Your Majesty, 

We are writing to request that the government of Morocco immediately release human rights defender Nasser Zefzafi on humanitarian grounds so he can care for his elderly father, who was recently diagnosed with stage IV cancer. Releasing Nasser on or before July 30 would uphold your long tradition of extending mercy to mark the anniversary of your accession to the throne. 

As you know, Nasser Zefzafi is an Indigenous activist who led the Hirak El-Rif movement, which brought together tens of thousands of people in a series of mass protests. The protesters called for an end to the marginalization of Amazigh-speaking communities, and demanded improvements to health care systems and infrastructure, an end to corruption, and better employment opportunities.

Nasser was arrested in May 2017 and convicted in June 2018 in a mass trial alongside other Hirak El-Rif movement leaders and participants, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. 

Nasser’s father was recently diagnosed with stage IV metastatic rectal cancer that has spread to his lungs, liver, and lymph nodes in his chest and abdomen. This cancer is incurable, though he is undergoing chemotherapy in an attempt to control it. We call on the government of Morocco to release Nasser on humanitarian grounds so he can care for his father, including by ensuring that he is able to attend his chemotherapy appointments in the best possible conditions. Since Nasser’s arrest, the international community has consistently called for his release. In January 2023, for example, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for Nasser’s “immediate and unconditional release,” and in August 2024, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted an opinion finding that Nasser’s detention violates international law and calling for his immediate release. 

Releasing him on humanitarian grounds would therefore not only provide comfort to a suffering family, but also uphold and reaffirm Morocco’s international obligations.

Sincerely, 

1. Freedom House
2. Raoul Wallenberg
3. Centre for Human Rights
4. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
5. MENA Rights Group
6. Human Rights Foundation
7. Rif Alert
8. Human Rights Watch
9. World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
10. International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
11. Amnesty International USA
12. Middle East Democracy Center