The World Amazigh Congress (WAC) has issued a statement expressing its full solidarity with the mothers of several Rifain detainees, including the mother of Nasser Zefzafi, a figurehead of the Rif popular movement who has been imprisoned since 2017. In recent days, these mothers have intensified their public appeals to Moroccan authorities to secure the release of their children.
A new appeal from the families
The mothers of several Rifain detainees, including Zoulikha Ziach, Nasser Zefzafi’s mother, have spoken out publicly to demand an end to what they describe as years of anguish and suffering, and to call for the release of their children, who have been incarcerated since the 2016-2017 protests in the Rif region. This mobilization by the families comes in a context of renewed interest in the case of the Hirak prisoners, with several solidarity campaigns resurfacing in recent months in an attempt to bring the subject back to the center of Moroccan public debate.
In its statement, the WAC commends “the courage and dignity of these mothers” and announces that it “firmly and unreservedly” supports their call for the release of their children, while expressing its “full solidarity” with them.
Recap of the facts according to the WAC
The World Amazigh Congress recalls that the detainees in question were arrested for their participation in the popular protests that took place in 2016 and 2017 in the Rif region of northern Morocco—a protest movement that emerged in the wake of the death of fishmonger Mohcine Fikri, who was crushed in a garbage truck in Al Hoceïma in late October 2016.
According to the organization, several hundred protesters were arrested and sentenced following trials it deems unfair, with some receiving sentences of up to twenty years in prison. In 2018 and subsequently on appeal, Moroccan courts indeed handed down heavy sentences to several key figures of the movement, including Nasser Zefzafi, Nabil Ahamjik, Samir Ighid, and Wassim Boustati, all of whom were sentenced to twenty years in prison for undermining the internal security of the State.
The WAC asserts that it has “never ceased to denounce” this incarceration, which it labels as abusive, and to demand the unconditional release of Nasser Zefzafi and his fellow detainees. The organization considers them “political prisoners,” believing that the true grounds for their convictions are not based on specific criminal offenses but on unacknowledged political considerations, particularly the references made during the movement to the historical figure of Abdelkrim El Khattabi, leader of the Republic of the Rif in the 1920s.
Accusations of anti-Amazigh discrimination
The WAC goes further by denouncing what it characterizes as “racist, anti-Amazigh practices,” deeming them incompatible with the democratic ambitions officially claimed by Morocco. The organization demands the “immediate” release of the Rifain detainees as well as compensation for the material, psychological, and moral damages suffered by them and their families.
Finally, the WAC calls upon the Moroccan National Human Rights Council (CNDH), as well as human rights organizations active within the country, to mobilize more firmly to secure the release of the Rifain political prisoners.
A still-sensitive case
Nearly nine years after the outbreak of the Rif Hirak, the fate of the remaining detainees continues to mobilize activists, associations, and families, despite several partial royal pardons granted over the years. The issue is regularly brought back to the forefront by solidarity campaigns, particularly those led by the detainees’ loved ones, who continue to demand a political resolution to the case.
Source: Statement from the Bureau of the World Amazigh Congress, Paris.