political prisoners in morocco

[scarletghoul]

This doesn't seem to be being mentioned here on revleft. A lot of our comrades in Morocco have been imprisoned by the reactionary King's regime.

Among them is Ilham Hasnouni, a young maoist militant whos been imprisoned since October 2010 without trial. Her trial is next tuesday so people have been expressing a lot of solidarity on facebook etc this week.http://a3.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/65695_155855274453600_155004624538665_246072_82504 45_n.jpg

she is one of the 14 maoists imprisoned in morocco (as far as i know, its hard to find info in english)-
http://a4.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/190146_202991349719421_100000256729863_772677_7423 818_n.jpg

Solidarity with the Moroccan people !
Free all political prisoners !
Long live comrade Hasnouni !
Down with the King !

[scarletghoul]

this is google translated so not perfect language but anyway its worth reading


Morocco. Appeals for the Communist student arrested

the Drafting Contropiano (http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=it&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://www.retedeicomunisti.org/it/notizie/notizie-rdc/itemlist/user/64-redazionecontropiano&usg=ALkJrhiiYv-ogxUW-kB8HjVb4tN1LoLSrA)



http://www.retedeicomunisti.org/media/k2/items/cache/49bd8b547ef08dc22b76ace42c2e4bdb_L.jpg (http://www.retedeicomunisti.org/media/k2/items/cache/49bd8b547ef08dc22b76ace42c2e4bdb_XL.jpg)
Do not forget to Ilham "

"Do not forget to Ilham", is the appeal launched by Taib Hasnouni, father of the young Moroccan student imprisoned in the prison of Marrakech in October. "My daughter has lost much weight, I had difficulty in recognizing it. His conditions of detention, especially in recent weeks, are especially hard. They refuse to provide him with books and newspapers, has nothing more to write, "he recalled Taib, a few days ago, Lakomata.

Who is Ilham Hasnouni? Enrolled at the University Cadi Ayyad of Marrakech and militant Annahj Addimocrati ("The democratic way", training Marxist counts among its supporters many university students, ndt), Ilham is an activist dell'UNEM (National Union Moroccan students). Considered the youngest political prisoner in Morocco (21 years), Ilham Hasnouni was arrested at his home in Essaouira, October 12, 2010 by five plainclothes, without a mandate, and in total violation of the rights and guarantees of liberty are already present at the time in the Code of Criminal Procedure, and now enshrined in the new constitution. Moved to Marrakech, was tortured for 48 hours in the basement of the police in the Place Jamaa al Fna, without the ability to eat or drink, until loss of consciousness. Since then it locked up in prison Boulmharez, as part of the detainees
common law. His crime is "those who have claimed in other places would be considered of fundamental rights such as free access to a system of quality education," says a statement posted on the page of the Facebook group "Free Hasnouni Ilham." The charges against Ilham are at least twenty, including "destruction of public property, participation in a rally is not organized, use of force against a police officer and the establishment of an armed band." For the examining judge, in fact, the young activist is linked to the campus riots of the "Red City" May 14, 2008, when the police intervened in a violent way to end the protests held dall'UNEM. "Against her is only the word of an agent," says the lawyer, however, Ilham, who considers the innocence of his client out of
discussion. Following those events, a first group of basistes (Marxist Students) - the "group Boudkour" - was sentenced to too hasty (the majority of its members have finished serving their sentence) by the court of Marrakech. Even then, for local and international NGOs, had been a political process, marred by the most flagrant violations of basic human rights. Apparently the story is soon repeated.
After ten months' imprisonment and mistreatment, Ilham still waiting for the start of its judicial process. The first hearing has already been four referrals (the next meeting is scheduled for tomorrow, July 26 note), while the defense was denied the opportunity to present witnesses on his behalf of the defendant.

------------------------------
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Below is an article written by journalist Zineb El Rhazoui (formerly Journal Hebdomadaire) last December, which explores in detail the story of Ilham Hasnouni.


ILHAM, VIOLENCE ON A YOUNG STUDENT MOROCCAN

At approximately 16 Tuesday, October 12th a boy elegant, about twenty, rings the door of the family in Essaouira Hasnouni. "Ilham is a guy who asks you," says her brother, thinking that it is a fellow faculty. Just out of the door of the house, five men levying well-placed student, throwing down his brother and pulling the hair, under the desperate cries of the mother. A black vehicle stationed a few steps away to an unknown party.
"I had doubts, I quickly realized that they were the mastiffs of Makhzen (a term which translates to" regime "or" power station ", ndt). The black car is the last thing I saw before my eyes blindfolded. During the trip, I rained blows upon him, and insults of any kind, "Ilham said in his written testimony from the prison of Marrakech Boulmharez.
The arrest of the young university, without a warrant or prior meeting, comes after a long series of meetings and interviews conducted in environments Cadi Ayyad University student, referring to the events of May 14, 2008, when the police invaded the campuses located within easy walking distance from the Faculty of legal, economic and social. On that occasion the UNEM had launched a strike, as a result of dozens of food poisoning recorded in the university restaurant. The administration of the university, in fact, had refused to pay the medical expenses of students admitted. After the clashes, the police embarked on a series of arrests that have targeted the members of the Marxist Democratic Way, among other things accused of supporting the separatists Sahrawi.
"Yes sir, can feel comfortable," reported one of the torturers of Ilham on the phone. The faint glimmer of light that could perceive through the bandage was not enough to recognize faces or places. "I found myself handcuffed in a dark room, probably one of the villas that the system reserves for this type of necessity," presupposes the young activist. The five agents who have stopped have been added to the other. "Traitor, son of a *****! As you have something to fill your belly, instead of thanking continue to protest. " The rhetoric is familiar to those who have suffered the torments of Makhzen. Far from being a citizen, the subject is easily put Morocco in its place and its function: that of the digestive tract. Ilham was questioned at length the meaning of this phrase: "what we should fill our bellies? Repression? Of arrests? Or
referred to the enormous wealth of this country, of which we see only the crumbs? ".

Torture to the beat of the drum
"Those of Marrakech want it tonight," are the words that the militant was able to capture a conversation between two agents. "As I loaded in the car I got a kick that made me fall to the ground ..." Get filthy dog! ", Shouted immediately. When I got dizzy I had to punch received up to that point. " Two machines Ilham lead to the "red city", where two years before the events had taken place so will be prosecuted. "I knew what I was going against. I knew it would not be easy to overcome. " In fact, the evidence Boulmharez filtered from prison over the past two years are frightening. Charges incurred after the violent invasion of the campus in Cadi Ayyad, the long days of torture and mock trial, basistes detainees have been faced with particularly difficult conditions of detention.
"After a journey that seemed endless, I have sent down a ladder, then again handcuffed to a chair." At this point they start questioning identity, studies, political opinions, acquaintances, etc. .. Applications hound, accompanied by blows to the face and the rest of the body each time the answers do not satisfy the inspectors. "At one point I was transferred to another room upstairs. The faces have changed but not the questions or reactions to my answers. Then a phone rang. " Ilham is loaded back into a vehicle, a van this time. The journey is short, the new destination is always in town. "I was taken to a dark, damp basement, where I spent the night."
The young activist has no idea at the beginning, the place where he is. But do not take long to find out. In the silence of his secret, he begins to distinguish the sounds of celebration, music of drums and dance rhythms. History repeats itself, as Zahra Boudkour, Ilham is locked up in the infamous police Jamaa al Fna. Under the square symbol of Moroccan tourism, classified UNESCO World Heritage site, dozens and perhaps hundreds of prisoners rotting in the dark. The Gnawa chants and flutes of snake charmers cover the screams of those being tortured a few feet lower. The crowd of tourists unaware that beneath his feet is the place where Boudkour Zahra was hit repeatedly in the face and genital area with an iron bar, where she was stripped in front of his classmates and forced to remain naked for three days full menstrual cycle. The superb picture postcard offering Jamaa al Fna
hides the darkness swallow the damned of the regime.
"A few hours later the door opens and a new jailers made their appearance. The series of questions again, but this time not even waiting for the answers. They beat me up to faint. " Ilham loses consciousness, but is still awake to the sound of blows. "During the beating was not able to distinguish faces, but I knew with certainty that I was confronted with the assassins of Abderrazak Gadir. His memory has not left me a moment. " The student referred to by Ilham died December 31, 2008 due to a serious head injury after another the police on the university campus of Cadi Ayyad. Numerous witnesses have attributed the responsibility for what the agent said "Laaroubi", which at the time he was in charge of the company's vice-prefect of police in Marrakech and the head of the tourist police. To date, no guilty party has paid for the murder of
Gadir.
"Back in my cell, I need to sleep. I was shaking with fatigue, but the humidity and the rumble of drums Jamaa al Fna have prevented me, "says the young activist. The truce, however, is of short duration. The torturers back to look for yet another interrogation. "Who is funding you?", The inspector again. The regime does not see Ilham and his fellow student organization that fights for free education, the increase in scholarships or access to transportation, but a conspiracy against his continued existence, probably financed by the "enemies of Morocco. " Applications are still a little ', then is made up of a van in the direction of the courthouse to appear before the public prosecutor. "A clock on the wall marked the 9 in the morning. I spent two days without eating the Commissioner Jamaa al Fna ".
Handcuffed to a chair, Ilham is on the verge of succumbing to hunger, thirst, pain and exhaustion. Only 18 to a police officer to enter the study makes the magistrate. "Who burned the campus? How are you? ... I was not surprised by his questions. For my part, I had a great desire to ask: who has prevented the entry of students on campus? Who killed Gadir? ... In the end he read the list of my charges against them: responsibility for arson, destruction of public goods, the meeting armed ... ". Hot off the nightmare of the preliminary, Ilham finds himself back in a van that leads to prison Boulmharez, "Abu Ghraib Marrakech," as they dubbed his guests. From his dorm overcrowded sent us his testimony. From there it continues to fight for their fundamental rights while waiting to begin the process.

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=it&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.retedeicomunisti.org%2Fit%2Fnot izie%2Fnotizie-rdc%2Fitem%2F2716-marocco-appello-per-gli-studenti-comunisti-arrestati

[Reznov]

This is very interesting, do we know how popular and how much support these groups have in Morocco?

[scarletghoul]

I don't know. There certainly are a lot of moroccan comrades on facebook (more than any other arab coutry on my friends list at least)

Protest in front of Marrakesh jail-
aDXA7mYk6sA

certainly the protest movement there is huge, and it includes a significant number of dedicated communists, but i dont know anything of the specific organisations

.. also comrade Hasnouni's trail has been postponed to 2/8/11 now >_<

[scarletghoul]

finally a moroccan has written an article on this in english



Free our comrade Ilham Elhasnouni.....(english article aboute Ilham)


Автор Maoiste Marocrevolution (http://www.facebook.com/maoiste.marocrevolution), написано 28 Июль 2011 г. в 23:11

Comrade Ilham (21 years old) is a militant Marxist-Leninist-Maoist in the Democratic Basis Way (DBW), and the Union National of Student of Morocco (UNSM) in the Marrakech University (Caddi Ayyad). She was always with their comrades in struggle against the reactionaries, against the university privatisation, against injustice, and for the liberation of our people.

The (UNSM) led by (DBW) in 14/05/2008 - as for many years - did start a great battle for the demands of students; but the respond of the reactionary regime was repression, assassination of one fighter; arrests of 18 comrades and two groups. The first includes 7 comrades, that they condemned to 1 year of jail. The second 11 comrades, that they sentenced. Among them is the fighter Mourad Echaouini who got 4 years in jail. He is still in jail. One other militant got 3 years of jail-sentence and the rest 2 years. The name of this group is "Group of Zahra Boudkour". With this group in jail is the 20 years old. Members of this groups have been heavily tortured in a police station of Marrakech City .

For these reasons and others, comrade Ilham Elhasnouni was expelled from the University and her studies as Master of Political Science in second year since 2008. At 12 October 2010, she was arrested from the house of her family in Essaouira City . She was taken away in the police car to Marrakech. She was beaten and insulted, and became victim of psychological and physical terror in front of her parents and her family.

She was tortured heavily 3 days in the police station at Marrakech. After that, she was transferred to the prison Bolmharz in Marrakech City , where she was psychological and physical tortured again by the guards. There are no officially charges, her trial has been post phoned many times.

Comrade Ilham is a strong militant. She has declared that she will always stay at the side of the masses, and she will continue the struggle because she is from Democratic Basis Way, and the communist students group which is strong since more than thirty years.

They accuse Ilham by many charges:

- Setting fire to state property
- Attempted murder of a police
- Assembling without a permission
- Obstruction of the study.
- Destruction of a reserve documents
- Participate in the destruction of movables
- The use of force
- Putting a road block to disrupt traffic
- The participation in armed assembly
- Participation in the destruction of money transferred, which is owned by others

With these charges they are trying to hide the real reasons behind the arrest and try to show her as an offender.

Not: ther is still in prison 3 others comrades(mourad echaouini 4 years from 15/05/2008),(youssef elhamdiya 1,5 years 10 octobre 2010);(abdelhak etalhaoui 4 years 23 fabruary 2011)....
- Long live the international solidarity.
- Free our comrades now.
http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226145_255569164454296_100000036433691_1071847_278 2673_n.jpg

[scarletghoul]

http://kasamaproject.org/2011/07/29/revolt-and-courage-in-morocco-ilham’s-story/


Ilham’s Story: Torture to the beat of Jamaa al Fna drums (http://kasamaproject.org/2011/07/29/revolt-and-courage-in-morocco-ilham%e2%80%99s-story/)

http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/ilham_hasnouni.jpg?w=224 (http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/ilham_hasnouni.jpg)The trial of Moroccan political prisoner Ilham Hasnouni (http://kasamaproject.org/2011/07/29/morocco-free-ilham-elhasnouni/)starts on August 2. (Her name is sometimes also given as Ilham Elhasnouni.)
Efforts are being made to have her story known around the world.
In the sharp struggles that follow North Africa’s “Arab Spring” — the suppression of political activity in pro-U.S. countries is often made invisible in the U.S. media. And Morocco, under King Mohammed VI is treated as an enlightened, modernizing corner of the region.
Here, in the following piece, arrested student activist Ilham gives her own description of Moroccan realities — as she tells the story of her arrest, interrogation and imprisonment.
* * * * * * * * * * *
by jZineb El Rhazoui
It was midweek, on October 12, 2010, that a well-dressed young man, about 20 years old, rang the doorbell on the Hasnouni family home.
“Ilham, there’s a guy here to see you,” her brother said, thinking that the young man on their doorstep was some fellow student from Ilham’s college. After waiting just out of sight, five men suddenly rushed the open door, threw Ilham’s brother to the ground, as their mother let out a desperate cry. A black vehicle was waiting just a few steps a way.
“I was shaken,” Ilham now says in written testimony from Marrakech’s Boulmharez prison,
“I quickly realized it was the dogs of the Makzen [the Moroccan regime]. That black car was the last thing I saw before they blindfolded me. During the ride I was beaten and subjected to verbal abuse of many kinds.”
The young university student was arrested, without warrant or warning, in the wake of an intense period of political clashes at Cadi Ayyad University. The student rallies and demands were answered by a police invasion on May 14, 2008.

http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/the-drums-of-jamaa-al-fna-marakesh-morocco.jpg?w=350&h=234 (http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/the-drums-of-jamaa-al-fna-marakesh-morocco.jpg)The famous drums of Jamaa al Fna in Marakesh, Morocco. Every tourist must know that under this square are the muffled screams of prisoners being tortured.

The Union National of Student of Morocco (UNSM) had launched a student strike, after dozens of youth suffered food poisoning at the university cafeteria. The university administration had refused to pay the medical expenses of the endangered students. After clashes broke out, the police launched a wave of arrests that have targeted the militants of the Maoist “Basist Democratic Road” who, among other things are being accused of supporting the separatist Sahrawi movement in the region’s south of Morocco.
One of the torturers told Ilham”
“Make yourself comfortable.”
She could only see a faint glimmer of light through the wrappings covering her eyes. It was not enough to distinguish faces, or identify where she was. The young activist says:
“I found myself handcuffed in a dark room, probably one of the villas that the system set aside for just this kind of thing.”
Five more agents arrived to join the crew holding her. They shouted at her:
“You treasonous *****! Instead of being content to have something fill your belly, you continue to protest.”
The tone and accusations were familiar to anyone who had fallen into the hands of the Makhzen. People here in Morocco are not citizens, but subjects. They are viewed as little more than a body, just a stomach – and if you are eating you are expected to be grateful and silent.
Again and again her interrogators returned to the following phrase from the student leaflets:
“What should we fill our bellies with? With repression? With arrests? What happens to the enormous wealth of this country, after the people get their few crumbs?”
Ilham caught a bit of conversation between two of the agents:
“Marrakesh says they want her tonight.”
“As I loaded into the car I got a kick that brought me to the ground,” she later said. She describes being dizzy from the beatings. “Get up, you filthy *****!” her captor shouted.
Ilham was sped off in a police car, with another car of cops accompanying them – toward the “Red City” where two years before (in 2008) the rebellion had taken place. These were the events she was now going to be punished for.
“I knew what I was going up against. I knew it would not be easy to make it through. “
http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/zahra_boudkour.jpg?w=175&h=261 (http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/zahra_boudkour.jpg)Zahra Boudkour, another of Morocco's imprisoned activists tortured by police. She is 23 years old.

In fact, the stories filtering out of Boulmharez prison these last years have been terrifying. Activists were arrested in the wake of the violent police occupation of the Cadi Ayyad campus. They were put through long days of torture and absurd kangaroo couts, and then placed under extremely difficult conditions of detention.
“The drive seemed endless. I was taken down a ladder and then, again, handcuffed to a chair.” Then the police started their questions. They demanded the names of her contacts – where they were enrolled in school, what their political views were. She was beaten on the face and body each time her answers were unsatisfactory.
Ilham says:
“At one point I was moved to another room upstairs. The faces changed but not the questions, and not the way they responded to my answers. Then a phone rang.”
Torture to the beat of drums
Ilham was again loaded into a vehicle, this time a van. And this time the drive was short, she was being taken to some other place in the same city.
“I was taken to a dark, damp basement, where I spent the night.”
The young woman had no idea, in the beginning, where she was. But it did not take long to realize where they had taken here. In the darkness, she began to hear the distant sounds of celebration, the rhythms of drums and dance.
http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/jamaa-el-fna-square-the-central-marketplace-of-marrakech-morocco.jpg?w=390&h=300 (http://mikeely.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/jamaa-el-fna-square-the-central-marketplace-of-marrakech-morocco.jpg)Jamaa el-Fna square, the central marketplace of Marrakech, Morocco.

History repeats itself.
Just like her comrade Zahra Boudkour before her, Ilham had been thrown into the notorious Jamaa al Fna police jail. Right under the city’s most famous marketplace, beneath this Moroccan tourist destination (which UNESCO considers a “World Heritage” site), dozens and perhaps hundreds of prisoners sit rotting in the dark.
Above ground, the Gnawa chants and the flutes of snake charmers cover the terrible screams of those tortured in the cells below.
The crowds of tourists at street level were unaware that just under their street, the militant Boudkour Zahra had been beaten in the face and genitals with an iron bar, that she had been humiliated in front of her arrested classmates – stripped naked for three days, including during her menstrual period.
There are many postcards sold showing Jamaa al Fna – but none of them show what happens in the darkness, in the hands of this cursed regime.
Ilham says:
“A few hours after I arrived there, the door opened and new jailers made their appearance. Again, the questions started. But this time they didn’t even bother to wait for my non-answers. They beat me until I passed out.”
Ilham says as she slowly regained consciousness, the first sound she heard was the sound of blows landing on her own body.
“During the beating, I was not able to distinguish faces, but I felt certain I was in the hands of the men who had murdered Abderrazak Gadir. His memory has been right there in front of me the whole time.”
Abderrazak Gadir is a student militant who died of a massive head injury on December 31, 2008 as the police occupied Cadi Ayyad campus. Many witnesses blamed the death on the agent known as Laaroubi – who, at that time, was the vice-prefect of police in Marrakech and the head of the city’s Tourist Police. To date, of course, no one has officially been held responsible for this murder of Gadir.
Ilham says:
“Back in my cell, I desperately needed to sleep. I was shaking with fatigue. But sleep was impossible because of the dampness of the cell and constant rumble of drums from Jamaa al Fna Square”
She only got a brief period alone. Then the torturers were back for another interrogation.
The inspector demanded:
“Who is funding you?”
This regime denies that Ilham and those organizing along side her are fighting for the right to education, for an increase in student funding or for the ability to travel to school. The government sees only conspiracies against the government — probably financed by the “enemies of Morocco. “
Another van, and an appearance before the before the public prosecutor.
“A clock on the wall said 9 o’clock in the morning. I had spent two days in the cells of Jamaa al Fna without food.”
In Morocco’s Abu Ghraib
Handcuffed to a chair, Ilham was on the verge of collapse – from hunger, thirst, pain and exhaustion. It took until 6 pm before a policeman escorted her into the magistrate’s private study.
“Who burned the campus? You?”
Ilham says she was not surprised by his questions.
“I felt a great desire to ask in reply: Who forced the students out of the campus? Who killed Gadir?… In the end , the prosecutor read a list of charges facing me: arson, destruction of public property, armed assembly… “
After this nightmarish hearing, Ilham found herself back in a van heading back to Boulmharez Prison. Those held here call it “Abu Ghraib Marrakech.”
Ilham is still being held there, under intensely overcrowded conditions. From there in Boulmharez she sends us this testimony. From there she continues to fight for the most elementary rights. From there she awaits the next stage of this ugly proceeding.