While the judge attached to the Ministry of Justice revealed information regarding the investigation conducted by the BNPJ, attorneys in charge of the activists detained in Al Hoceima gave during a press conference held in Tangier their version of the story. Stories concerning the situation of the activists detained last Friday in Al Hoceima and transferred to the National Brigade of Judicial police headquarters vary. On Thursday night, Hicham El Belaoui, a judge attached to the Ministry of Justice, announced on national TV that 31 persons were arrested in Al Hoceima and later sent to Casablanca. The investigation is conducted by the general prosecutor of Al Hoceima's appeal court. The activists detained, according to the judge, are accused of «undermining state security» among a number of other charges, Alyaoum 24 reports on Friday 2nd of June. Hicham El Belaoui, insisted that the families of the 31 detainees were informed about the reasons behind the arrest, and the place of detention, clarifying that the rumors of «kidnapping» the figures of the «Hirak» were not true. «The news circulating about kidnapping are just rumors that some people make up to influence the investigation. The prosecutor is ready to initiate all necessary procedures these allegations and their impact. Kidnapping is a word that no longer exists in the dictionary of our country, given the achievements and advances that we reached when it comes to rights and freedoms.» Attorneys claim that they have no news about Nasser Zefzafi The judge seized the moment to speak about the arrests. According to him, «the riots in Al Hoceima led to the arrest of a group of persons allegedly involved in these events». Hicham El Belaoui explains afterwards that the individuals detained are divided into two groups : «The first group of people are accused of insulting the law enforcement agents while on duty, in addition to violence resulting in injuries». He mentions also crimes of «vandalism» and «damaging property». Members of this group were heard by the judge on the 30th of May. The judge attached to the Ministry of Interior also points out that competent agents will investigate the «allegations of torture» and will make sure that the suspects would be checked on. The version of the story presented by the national TV channel Al Aoula was quite different from the one delivered by the defending representatives of the activists. On Thursday night, the «attorney of Hirak activists» organized a press conference in Tangier. Rachid Benali, the coordinator of the attorneys, as reported by Alyaoum 24, stated that the arrests started on Friday 26th of May while lawyers couldn't visit their clients until Wednesday 31st of May around 10 pm. «We had met 5 of them and we managed to visit the others on Thursday at 3 pm», he announced. With Anouar Ballouqi, the two lawyers did not fail to criticize the intervention of the police forces for the arrest of the suspects and the «violence» that accompanied this intervention. They also refer to violations of the criminal procedure, the transfer of detainees from Al Hoceima to Casablanca and torture. On the case of Nasser Zefzafi, leader of Al Hirak of the Rif, the lawyers said that they have no news about his condition. According to them, he is said to be in a 96 hours custody and will not be able to communicate with a lawyer until Friday, the custody will be over on Monday 29th of May.
