Morocco: Communiqué on the death of the student Abderrazzak El Gadiri

Communiqué on the death of the student Abderrazak El Gadiri

During the march of solidarity held on Sunday 28 December 2008 by the Cadi Ayyad University students in Marrakech, the public forces have acted violently against the students and especially those who helped organize the march. During this harsh intervention, a good number of students has been the subject of a wide-ranging wave of arrests and injuries. Among victims the student Abderrazzak ELGadiri – born on 28 july 1987 and pursued his studies at the Faculty of Law - who died after being subjected to police torture which required his transfer to hospital Ibn Tofaïl where he gave up the ghost on Monday December 29 at four o’clock in the morning.
Having followed the developments of this horrible event, the Central Bureau of the Moroccan Association of Human Rights has decided to support the decedent’s family in court and:

1. Expresses its condolences to the family of the martyr and to his comrades and his friends and expressed its full solidarity.

2. Calls for the opening of a fair and entire investigation on the circumstances that led to these incidents, the unveiling of the complete truth and punish these crimes perpetrators, whatever their level of responsibility or their personal status. In this context, according to the family statements, the contradictory revelations of officials are considered as an attempt to hide the truth about the death of the martyr.

3. Records that this crime is a consequence of repression, arrests, torture and various kinds of violence perpetrated by public forces against Marrakech students for months and the commitment trials against numerous students, including some still serving their sentences.

4. Blames the violation of the right to life caused by the escalation of police violence that has exacerbated nowadays against the citizens both in the cells of the police and in the streets despite the ratification by Morocco of the Convention against Torture and Other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and promulgation of the law criminalizing torture.

5. Condemns the impunity of those responsible for these crimes which encourages them to commit again and violates the victim’s right to fairness.

6. Renews on this occasion its claim for the release of students incarcerated in Marrakech jail and all political detainees.

7. The Central Bureau will continue to follow developments in this issue both at central level and at the level of the local and Marrakech regional section of the Association.

The Central Bureau
Rabat, January 4, 2009.

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