Mendez Report: Torture and Maltreatment are Still Common in Morocco
By Mohamed Hikal
Moroco News Tribune
Taroudant, Morocco | Monday, February the 4th is the day when Juan Mendez, UN special rapporteur on torture, will hand over his complete report on all kinds of torture practiced in Morocco based on his last visit to the country.
The report is expected to be an incentive to Moroccan authorities to end all types of torture, said the Moroccan Lakome news website which laid hand on the complete report.
The report that is due to be presented in a public hearing in Geneva next Monday, confirms that torture is still a common practice in Morocco.
Besides, according to Mendez visit to Morocco, the report acclaimed the growing human rights values witnessed in the country. Meanwhile, the report referred to the cruelties that are still common mostly in criminal justice system.
These cruelties are witnessed in cases related to national security threats, terrorist acts and demonstrations. Also, the reports indicated acts of maltreatment and torture during arrests and detentions.
Terrorism and national security
In his report, Mendez expressed his “deep concern “about the testimonies on maltreatment and torture in assumed cased of national security threats and terrorism.
“It seems that torture is used on a large scale in order to get confessions while questioning on cases related to national security,” said Juan Mendez.
According to the report, torture consisted of acts such as beating with sticks or tubes, slapping, hanging and beating on soles, kicking, exposure to extreme cold or heat, sexual assault or threatening to sexually assault the subject.
The report talked also about detention condition and “secret detention” in isolation from the outer world in cases of national security threats.
“In most cases, suspects are detained for weeks without trial. Also, suspects’ families are not informed till they get summoned into police precincts to sign on confessions, and according to data provided, detainees are kept in custody more than the allowed period,” said the report.
As in cases of terrorist acts, convicts keep tortured the whole time they are in prison.
Excessive force during demonstrations:
Juan Mendez report tackled also the protests calling for democratic and constitutional reforms in February and March 2011. During those incidents, law enforcement agents often raided demonstrators. One demonstrator got killed and many injured. So many testimonies on excess in force were considered regarding May 2012 demonstrations in Rabat, Fez, Tangier and Temara.
The government justified that by saying that they were unauthorized demonstrations and therefore had to be dispersed according to the law. However, Mendez insisted that excessive force is prohibited according to the international law.
Officials get away with it:
With too much concern, the report noticed that no official had ever been tried for torture, and while questioning the government about that, they said that 220 agents were interrogated. However, Mendez insisted that these agents were tried for beating and wounding and not for torture.
He added that most of them are either still under investigation or acquitted and the very few ones who got convicted were sentenced to a short time, paid fines or got suspended.
As for the work of the “Reconciliation and Justice Corps”, Mendez stated that the corps still can’t deal totally with the violations that had long been and still are committed.
He also showed his deep deception for authority’s stance in denying all these violations.
Furthermore, Juan Mendez called for a reconsideration of verdicts based on evidence yielded by suspects under torture. These verdicts have to rely on forensic evidence.