Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc backs Moroccan human rights group, calls for end to impunity for torture

26 June – International Day in Support of Victims of Torture

The victims' voice will not be silenced… and memory cannot be erased!

On this international day, the Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc Foundation echoes the statement of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights (AMDH), which clearly exposed the continuing abuses of the Makhzen against Moroccan citizens:

• systematic torture in police stations and prisons;
• suspicious deaths in police custody;
• repression of peaceful protests and arbitrary arrests;
• targeting of Rif Hirak activists and human rights defenders;
• systematic cover-up of perpetrators and tacit impunity.

In the face of these violations, we affirm:

• that human dignity is not open to bargaining or political compromise;
• that the crime of torture is not subject to any statute of limitations, and the Makhzen will answer for it before history;
• that continued impunity is a stain on the Moroccan state;
• that defending victims of torture is a moral and human duty before it is a legal one.

The Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc renews its support for all free human rights voices and calls for:

• the release of prisoners of conscience and members of social movements;
• impartial investigations into all cases of torture and deaths in custody;
• the repeal of exceptional laws used to suppress freedoms;
• protection of whistle-blowers and victims against reprisals;
• international pressure to halt the Makhzen's machinery of repression targeting Moroccan citizens at home and abroad.

Issued by the Hisn Al-Mateen Bloc Foundation