Moroccan authorities expressed, on Thursday, their rejection of the false allegations contained in the Human Rights Watch (HRW) Report 2017 on the human rights situation in Morocco. Firstly, allegations of violations of the rights of persons arrested in connection with the Al Hoceima events, arguing that their trial is unfair, are belied by the constitutional, legal and real guarantees provided by the judiciary, given its total independence and the exercise of its powers in the context of a fair trial. What confirms the unsubstantiated nature of HRW's allegations is that the case is still before the court, which has not yet made a ruling. «What kind of lost guarantees is the HRW talking about?», the same sources wonder. Secondly, concerning the case of Gdim Izik events involving alleged murderers of 11 members of the security forces, the Moroccan authorities affirm that the military Court had already ruled on this case, as did the Court of Cassation that had decided to annul the verdict of the military Court and to resubmit the case to the criminal chamber of Rabat's appeal Court, which granted the defendants all the guarantees of a fair trial, as has been pointed out by the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) in its observations on the conduct of the trial as an independent national institution, accredited with status «A» by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, besides the statements of international and national observers. Thirdly, with regard to the allegation of «systematic prohibition» of gatherings in the southern provinces of the Kingdom, the public authorities claim that this allegation is not based on realistic data, since the management of non peaceful or unauthorized gatherings is done in accordance with the laws in force and the international commitments of Morocco in the field of human rights. For the record, Human Rights Watch (HRW) insisted in its 2018 report that Morocco has responded in a repressive way to demonstrations that took place throughout 2017. Assessing the human rights situation in the country, the NGO put under the spot light the way authorities dealt with the Hirak Rif movement.
