The Correctional Chamber of the Court of First Instance in Marrakech adjourned, this Monday, the hearing regarding the prosecution of human rights activist Said Ait Mehdi, president of the coordination committee for victims of the Al Haouz earthquake, and three other defendants who are being prosecuted while at liberty, to a future session to be held on January 13th.
Mohamed El Ghouloussi, a lawyer at the Marrakech Bar and a member of Ait Mehdi's defence team, explained that "this delay comes in response to the request of some lawyers, who are seeking to reach a settlement between the provincial authority and a group of its complaining agents, to put an end to this dilemma which is fueling the social situation in the concerned provinces and increasing security pressure on the city of Marrakech due to the protests accompanying the trial sessions".
El Ghouloussi added, in a press statement, "that no party has an interest in deepening this crisis; because the victims are weary of the long duration the reconstruction process has taken, and the fraud and swindling they were subjected to by some contractors and authority agents, the crisis profiteers, who have been arrested and are being prosecuted in a Moroccan court".
In parallel with this session, a group of earthquake victims from the provinces of Al Haouz, Chichaoua, and Taroudant, supported by civil society and human rights activists, organised a protest, during which they raised slogans condemning the arrest of activist Said Ait Mehdi and his companions, and demanding that the authorities release the detainees and provide justice to the victims of the natural disaster.
The Public Prosecution is charging Ait Mehdi while in detention with the misdemeanours of "broadcasting and distributing false allegations and facts with the intent to infringe upon the private lives of individuals and defame them, insulting an organised body and public officials while performing their duties or because of their performance of them, assaulting a public official due to the exercise of their duties, and inciting the commission of a felony or misdemeanour by electronic means that meets the condition of publicity".
The Civil Coalition for the Mountain reacted to the case, stating that "the solution is to listen and triumph for the logic of dialogue with the population of the stricken mountain regions, not by muzzling voices", explaining that "the current phase requires courage in facing errors and addressing the imbalances that hinder the reconstruction process and achieving justice for the victims".
The local coordination committee for the defence of freedoms and the right to organise in Marrakech demanded the release of Said Ait Mehdi, president of the coordination committee for Al Haouz earthquake victims, and the cessation of all harassment against him.
Ait Mehdi's trial comes in the wake of three complaints filed by the Governor of Al Haouz Province, a Khalifa of the Caid at the "Thalat N'Yacoub" command, and an authority agent at the same command belonging to Al Haouz Province, which the King's Prosecutor at the Marrakech Court of First Instance referred to the Judicial Centre of the Royal Gendarmerie in Tahnaout to conduct a preliminary judicial investigation, leading the King's Prosecutor at the Marrakech Court of First Instance to decide to prosecute him while in detention and place him in the L'Oudaya local prison along with three other defendants.
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