Nasser Zefzafi and Mohamed Jellul, sentenced to 20 and 10 years for being the visible heads of the riots in the town of Al Hoceima and that spread throughout the Rif region after the death of the fish seller Mohssine Fikri in November 2016, have abandoned the hunger strike that began on February 15 in Tangier 2 prison, after the Moroccan prison administration (DGAPR) acceded to part of the claims that they set out in a document with their demands. That document announced their intention to go on a hunger strike and they sent it to the management of the prison where the two Hirak activists from the Rif are serving their sentences, once again accepting the regrouping of Rif prisoners to the Tangier prison. The first to be transferred was Mohamed El Haki, sentenced to 15 years and returned to the Tangier 2 prison from Larache prison, 72 kilometers away.
The condemned were protesting the restriction of telephone communications with people outside their family sphere and the control of conversations within the prison, for which the prison authorities had decided to disperse six of the main leaders of the movement who had declared hours previously on hunger strike in retaliation and to “put an end to unacceptable behavior and serious infractions,” according to a statement from the Moroccan prison. Last week, Zefzafi fainted and hit his nose when he fell, causing a hemorrhage. Nasser was bleeding for an hour and twenty minutes until prison officials found him when they were going to announce the visit of his lawyers. “Thanks to the visit of his lawyers, my son is still alive, but his health quite deteriorates”, Ahmed Zefzafi, Nasser’s father, told us, quite concerned about the health of his son and denouncing the treatment received by the medical assistance of the prison where he is being held.
Suspicion is growing in the ranks of the movement that Zefzafi’s state of health has deteriorated in recent months, as a Hirak spokesperson in Spain tells El Mundo who has been able to speak with his mother: “He has noticed weakness in voice, he does not have access to medical reports, no one can know what is happening to Nasser. The family has requested that they inform them of the state of health. Nasser suffered partial paralysis and has respiratory problems. Fainting is not known why The mother only confirms that her son is unwell, that her voice says it all, and that it is unfair not to have the right to access a medical report. She questions the assistance received by health personnel in prison who do not have the adequate tools to address existing health deficiencies “.
From the families, there have been numerous times that through lawyers and even human rights organizations they have claimed the medical reports of Nasser and El Haki, which according to the same spokesperson: “He has also suffered medical problems in prison and even today no one knows what is happening to them at the health level because no one has access, except the prison authorities, to the medical reports “denounces the activist and spokesman for Hirak who on Tuesday afternoon was able to speak with Zefzafi” Honestly despite the cruelty of imprisonment and the hunger strike, Nasser exudes a lot of strength and courage. All the torture he has been subjected to has made him stronger. I have noticed him more convinced than ever. Regarding his health, He has told me that despite everything he is very well. ”
Nabil Ahamjik, Samir Ighid, and Zakaria Adahchour, the rest of the jailed activists, are expected to arrive at the prison where their companions await them this week. While some comrades of the activists who were linked to the protests in the Rif and who were also arrested in July 2017, after the large demonstration organized in Al Hoceima on 20J, severely repressed by the security forces, managed to reach Spain fleeing from jail, as is the case with Jamal Mouna.
The activist arrived in Spain on January 18 with the other former political prisoner of Hirak, Mohamed Jaouhari, before entering prison again. The two were admitted to the CIE in Murcia where they were informed of the expulsion proceedings. Thanks to the lawyers, it was possible to paralyze the file and the admission for processing of the application to obtain political asylum in Spain and obtain the status of political refugee in a short time.
TORTURE COMPLAINT
Jamal tells that he was held with Nasser Zefzafi in the Oukacha prison in Casablanca for 22 months: “The Oukacha prison where I spent 22 months is hell. Nasser Zefzafi for example, with whom I was in the same module when his period ended of isolation where he was tortured in the most criminal way possible. They stripped him, lowered his pants, and put objects in his anus. They rubbed his face with a dirty mop, while they recorded him with a mobile phone, that recording was destined for the highest state official. While they were torturing him they asked him to say “long live the king” because our motto was “long live the Rif”, in short Nasser suffered all kinds of torture.
Jamal claims to have suffered psychological torture during the time he was detained. In the trial in which he was convicted, he declared the case of the torture that Zefzafi lived, but before beginning his narration he asked the judge that his mother who was in the courtroom, leave her. “They tried to put other things in his anus,” says Jamal. Last Saturday, members of the Riff’s Hirak movement in exile, organized a protest rally in front of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was attended by former Riff politicians Jamal Mouna and Mohamed Jawhari. The activists were received the day before in the congress of deputies by a parliamentary commission headed by the deputy of United We Can Enrique Santiago.
