
6 June 2014: Sit in calling for the release of political prisoners in Casablanca. Photo Via: @LeJebly
Morocco’s Arab Spring was short lived. The protest movement that emerged was somewhat pacified by the State with promises of reform and initiatives to tackle corruption and improve human rights. A new constitution was passed. These promises were mainly empty rhetoric and voices of dissent continue, and continue to be suppressed by the authorities. It’s estimated that around 300 are currently in Morocco’s prisons for voicing opposition to the regime.
Over the past three years activists from the 20 February Movement, a youth-led pro-democracy movement which emerged in Morocco as part of the regional uprisings, have been subject to arbitrary arrests, torture and even murdered by the State. But the movement was not silenced. Continue reading