Mass Protests as Rif leader Nasser Zefzafi sentenced to 20 years
A court sentenced Nasser Zefzafi and other activists who were involved in organising demonstrations in Al Hoceima.
The leader of a protest movement that shook Morocco’s northern Rif region for months over social and economic issues has been sentenced for 20 years.
https://players.brightcove.net/665003303001/4k5gFJHRe_default/index.html?videoId=5802563132001
A court in Casablanca on Tuesday sentenced 39-year-old Nasser Zefzafi, who was arrested in May last year and later transferred to a prison in the port city.
Zefzafi was involved in organising demonstrations in his hometown of Al Hoceima.
The social unrest in the region followed the death of Mouhcine Fikri, a fishmonger crushed in a rubbish track as he protested against the seizure of swordfish caught out of season.
Calls for justice for Fikri, 31, evolved into a grassroots movement demanding jobs and economic development, with Zefzafi, himself unemployed, emerging as the leader of the Hirak el-Shaabi, or Popular Movement, based largely in Al Hoceima.
Zefzafi was charged with undermining public order and threatening national unity.
His arrest in 2017 was ordered after he allegedly interrupted a preacher at a mosque to call for further demonstrations.
Prosecutors had said the arrest was ordered after he “obstructed, in the company of a group of individuals, freedom of worship” at the mosque in Al Hoceima.
Since, smaller protests have become a daily occurrence in the town.
As part of the same verdict, movement leaders Nabil Ahmijeq, Wassim El Boustani and Samir Aghid were also given 20 years in prison, while three others received a 15-year jail sentence.
Meanwhile, seven activists were sentenced to five years in prison and six others were given a 10-year jail sentence.
Seven activists were sentenced to three years in prison, while 12 defendants received a two-year prison sentence. An activist was given a one-year suspended prison sentence.
In total, 53 people were handed sentences on Tuesday following a nine-month trial.
Speaking to Reuters News Agency by phone, the activists’ lawyer Bouchra Rouis said the sentences were “unfair”, adding that there will be an appeal against the ruling after a discussion with the defendants.
The mainly ethnically Berber Rif region has long had a tense relationship with Morocco’s central authorities and was at the heart of Arab Spring-inspired protests in 2011.
The main protests subsided following a series of political reforms, including constitutional changes that saw King Mohamed VI give up some of his wide-ranging powers.
SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies
Moroccan protest leader’s 20-year sentence sets off marches – AP News 2 days ago – TANGIERS, Morocco (AP) — Hundreds of protesters marched in Morocco’s … Hirak Rif leader Nasser Zefzafi and the three activists were …
Morocco: Guilty verdicts returned in unfair Hirak trials must be overturned 2 days ago – Protest leaders Nasser Zefzafi and Nabil Ahamjik were last night … along with two other protesters, in connection with protests in the Rif region …
Solidarity with the Rebellion in the RIF by the CNT
CNT in solidarity with the protests in the RIF 
Source – National Confederation of Labor
For months, there have been protests in Alhucemas and other Rif cities in northern Morocco against the unjust treatment that the Moroccan state has given the population for decades. The corruption of the Moroccan state, the lack of public infrastructures in the region, the attack on the Rif culture and language , the precarious conditions of life and the absence of freedom and autonomy to express themselves as a people.
Protests have increased as a result of the arrest of dozens of activists of the Popular Movement of Alhucemas, which raises the social and political demands of the Rif people through the peaceful mobilizations that are developing, and where women are increasingly prominent.
On Wednesday, June 28, eight months after the start of the Hirak, the peaceful protest movement following the death of Mouhcine Fikri, a 31-year-old street vendor, crushed by a garbage truck at Alhucemas
In recent days, mobilizations have spread outside the Rif, with massive demonstrations in Rabat, tens of thousands of people. To all this are joined the acts of solidarity that have taken place in various European cities, in support of the protests in the Rif.
We know that, at present, there are at least 200 detainees, who have been transferred mostly to Rabat, although these figures are provisional, because their numbers are constantly increasing.
Several prisoners, including Nasser Zafzafi, Mohamed Jelloul and Mohamed Mejjaoui, and several dams, such as Silya Ziani, and many others, have begun a hunger strike in protest of the arrests. These are totally arbitrary and are directed against peaceful activists and demonstrators, just because they are socially and politically annoying because of their just demands.
July 2017..Almost 50 refugees feared drowned in the Mediterranean | Spain … Sixty migrants have died trying to cross the waters to Spain from Morocco …The rubber boat was believed to have left Morocco with 52 people aboard. The migrants now also include refugees from the Rif rebellion. … Rescue workers were searching for survivors in the water …
Ill-treatment of detainees is the norm and there are numerous cases of torture. The Moroccan army has strengthened its presence in Alhucemas and treats the population as if it were in an occupied military zone.
The Moroccan public television tries to discredit the protests by means of the most rough manipulations. The Moroccan National Press Union (SNPM) has denounced them and demanded the release of detained journalists, such as Mohamed El Asrihi de Rif 24, Jaouad Al Sabry photographer of Araghi TV, Abdelali Haddou of Rifpress, Houssein El Idrissi of Awar TV , Fouad Assaidi …
With these names, only a few of the 200 people arrested so far, we do not intend to prioritize some cases in front of others, but to put names and surnames to the prisoners, to support their relatives, companions and companions and to demand the:
– IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALL PRISONERS AND PRISONERS FOR POLITICAL REASONS
We must remember that, unfortunately, this situation is not unique. Just one night before the great demonstration in Rabat, the Moroccan police and army brutally repressed in El Aiun a call in support of Saharawi political prisoners and to claim the right of self-determination.
It is no coincidence that in the Rif, as happened in Western Sahara, the Moroccan army has bombarded the civilian population with napalm, in the recent past. That’s why we also demand the:
-INMEDITED DEMILITARIZATION OF RIF AND SÁHARA
The -majcen-, (the circle of oligarchs that surrounds the crown of Morocco) claim that the protests are organized from abroad. At the same time, the king receives Macrón. But in reality it is the majcen which encourages the protests with its injustice, the one that eats from the hand of the French imperialism, the one that receives military aid from the state of Israel to oppress the Saharawis or the one that is supported by the corrupting and oppressive monarchy, a friend of Trump and the Saudis.
Likewise, the repression and lack of rights in the Rif are no obstacle to the Spanish government continuing to support the Moroccan regime, as have not been the decades of international breaches and non-compliance in the Sahara. In fact, the Spanish government has been one of the main allies of the Moroccan monarchy since the time of Hassan II.
The History … Mustard Gas and Napalm
The historical marginalization of the Rif seemed to come to an end with the coming to the throne of the then young and promising Mohammed VI in 1999 after the death of Hassan II, who as crown prince had taken over the repression of the riots of 1958-1959, even ordering The bombing with napalm of the rebels ( see the documentary’Romper el silencio’, by Tarek Idrissi, if you want to delve into this cruel episode)
Not in vain, the north of Morocco has become a space of delocalisation of many Spanish companies, that have transferred to this zone their production, to take advantage of the low wages and the lack of union rights.
Similarly, the Moroccan government plays a key role in monitoring the southern European border and in the control of cross-strait immigration, as a gendarme serving the European Union, with constant abuses and violations of human rights. of its own population and migrants from other countries.
A government such as Spain, at the service of the elites who benefit from this situation, can only be complicit in the policies of the Moroccan government, in a general and shared context of freedom cuts and rights retreat.
For this reason, solidarity and the joint struggle with the workers of North Africa and the Rif in particular are fundamental for the improvement of the conditions of life of the working class.
One of the hallmarks of CNT is its internationalist commitment. At the beginning of the last century, CNT strongly opposed, among protests and strikes, the recruitment of workers and the war in the Rif.
Consequently, from CNT we support the just demands of the people, we declare our full support and solidarity to their mobilizations and to the demands of the Popular Movement Rifeño, which are the following:
– Immediate release of detainees for political reasons.
– Demilitarization of the Rif and free exercise of the rights of manifestation, assembly and freedom of expression.
“We do not have any factory, we do not have an oncology hospital, despite having the highest cancer rate in all of Morocco, because of the use of chemical weapons made by Spain [A study in 2015 showed that almost 80% of adults and 50 % Of cancer-infants treated at the oncology hospital in Rabat came from the Rif area where Spanish aviation bombarded with mustard gas between 1924 and 1927].
-Construction and equipment of hospitals, universities and schools. Right to quality and free public health and education.
– Social measures of distribution of the wealth that allow the end of the misery. Right to a decent home and life.
– End of the corruption and mafia structure that governs the Maghreb.
-Respect to the culture and language rifeña.
-Liberty and trade union freedom.
CNT has always been committed to building a world without borders, where people do not have to leave their land because of political persecution or lack of work and social rights, which belong to everyone.
That is why we encourage everyone to give the maximum possible support to the companions of the RIF, supporting solidarity committees and attending all the demonstrations and rallies held for this cause.
Rif – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Rif (in Amazigh, Arrif and in Arabic, الريف [Ar-Rīf]) is a region with mountainous zones and green areas of the north of Morocco
original en castellano
CNT en solidaridad con las protestas en el RIF – CNT
Fuente – CNT en solidaridad con las protestas en el RIF | Confederación Nacional del Trabajo 28.6.2017
Desde hace meses se vienen produciendo protestas en Alhucemas y otras ciudades del Rif, en el norte de Marruecos, contra el trato injusto que, desde hace décadas, da el Estado marroquí a la población rifeña. A este motivo se unen la corrupción del estado marroquí, la falta de infraestructuras públicas en la región, el ataque a la cultura y la lengua rifeñas, las condiciones precarias de vida y la ausencia de libertad y autonomía para expresarse como pueblo.
Las protestas se han acrecentado como consecuencia de la detención de decenas de activistas del Movimiento Popular de Alhucemas, que plantea las demandas sociales y políticas del pueblo rifeño a través de las movilizaciones pacíficas que se están desarrollando, y dónde las mujeres tienen cada vez más protagonismo, como impulsoras.
El miércoles 28 de junio se cumplieron ocho meses del inicio del Hirak, el movimiento pacífico de protestas surgido tras la muerte de Mouhcine Fikri, un vendedor ambulante de 31 años, triturado por un camión de la basura en Alhucemas
En los últimos dias, las movilizaciones se han extendido fuera del Rif, con manifestaciones masivas en Rabat, de decenas de miles de personas. A todo esto se unen los actos de solidaridad que se han dado en diversas ciudades europeas, en apoyo a las protestas en el Rif.
Sabemos que, a día de hoy, hay al menos 200 detenidos, que han sido trasladados en su mayor parte a Rabat, si bien estas cifras son provisionales, porque su número aumenta constantemente. Varios presos, como Nasser Zafzafi, Mohamed Jelloul y Mohamed Mejjaoui, y varias presas, como Silya Ziani, y muchas personas más, han iniciado una huelga de hambre en protesta por las detenciones.
Estas son totalmente arbitrarias y se dirigen contra activistas y manifestantes pacíficos, solo porque son molestos social y políticamente a causa de sus justas reivindicaciones.
Los malos tratos contra los detenidos son la norma y existen númerosos casos de tortura. El ejercito marroquí ha reforzado su presencia en Alhucemas y trata a la población como si estuviese en una zona militar ocupada.
La prensa ha sido amordazada y la televisión pública marroquí intenta desacreditar las protestas por medio de las más burdas manipulaciones. El Sindicato Nacional de Prensa de Marruecos (SNPM) las ha denunciado y ha exigido la libertad de los periodistas detenidos, como Mohamed El Asrihi de Rif 24, Jaouad Al Sabry fotógrafo de Araghi TV, Abdelali Haddou de Rifpress, Houssein El Idrissi de Awar TV, Fouad Assaidi… Con estos nombres, apenas unos pocos de las 200 personas detenidas hasta ahora, no pretendemos priorizar unos casos frente a otros, sino poner nombres y apellidos a las personas encarceladas, apoyar a sus familiares, compañeros y compañeras y exigir la:
-LIBERACIÓN INMEDIATA DE TODOS LOS PRESOS Y PRESAS POR MOTIVOS POLITÍCOS
Debemos recordar que, desgraciadamente, esta situación no es única. Apenas una noche antes de la gran manifestación de Rabat, la policía y el ejercito marroquíes reprimían brutalmente en El Aiun una convocatoria en apoyo a los presos políticos saharauis y para reclamar del derecho de autodeterminación.
No es casualidad que en el Rif, al igual que ocurrió en el Sáhara Occidental, el ejercito marroquí haya bombardeado a la población civil con napalm, en un pasado aún reciente. Por eso también, exigimos la:
-INMEDITA DESMILITARIZACIÓN DEL RIF Y DEL SÁHARA
Dice el majcén (el círculo de oligarcas que rodea la corona de Marruecos) que las protestas están organizadas desde el extranjero. Al mismo tiempo, el rey recibe a Macrón. Pero en realidad es el majcén el que alienta las protestas con su injusticia, el que come de la mano del imperialismo francés, el que recibe ayuda militar del estado de Israel para oprimir a los saharauis o el que está apoyado por la corrupta y opresora monarquía saudí, amiga de Trump.
De la misma forma, la represión y la falta de derechos en el Rif no son obstáculo para que el gobierno español continúe apoyando al régimen marroquí, como no lo han sido hasta ahora las décadas de vulneraciones e incumplimientos internacionales en el Sáhara. De hecho, el gobierno español es uno de los principales aliados de la monarquía marroquí, desde tiempos de Hassán II.
La Historia… Gas mostaza y napalm
La marginación histórica del Rif pareció llegar a su fin con la llegada al trono del entonces joven y prometedor Mohammed VI en 1999, tras la muerte de Hassan II, quien como príncipe heredero había asumido la represión de las revueltas de 1958-1959, ordenando incluso el bombardeo con napalm de los rebeldes (Una recomendación: vean el documental Romper el silencio, de Tarek Idrissi, si quieren profundizar en esta cruel episodio)
No en balde, el norte de Marruecos se ha convertido en un espacio de deslocalización de muchas empresas españolas, que han trasladado a esta zona su producción, para aprovecharse de los bajos salarios y la falta de derechos sindicales. De la misma forma, el gobierno de Marruecos juega un papel fundamental en la vigilancia de la frontera sur europea y en el control de la inmigración a través del Estrecho, como gendarme al servicio de Europa, con constantes abusos y vulneraciones de los derechos humanos de su propia población y de los y las migrantes de otros paises.
Un gobierno como el español, al servicio de las élites que se benefician de esta situación, no puede ser sino cómplice de la políticas del gobierno marroquí, en un contexto general y compartido de recorte de libertades y retroceso de derechos.
Por ello, la solidaridad y la lucha conjunta con los trabajadores y trabajadoras del norte de África y del Rif en particular, son fundamentales para la mejora de las condiciones de vida de la clase trabajadora.
Una de las señas de identidad de CNT es su compromiso internacionalista.Ya a principios del siglo pasado, CNT se opuso firmemente, entre protestas y huelgas, al reclutamiento de trabajadores y a la guerra en el Rif. Consecuentemente, desde CNT apoyamos las justas reivindicaciones del pueblo rifeño, declaramos nuestro total apoyo y solidaridad a sus movilizaciones y a las reivindicaciones del Movimiento Popular Rifeño, que son las siguientes:
-Liberación inmediata de los detenidos por razones políticas.
-Desmilitarización del Rif y libre ejercicio de los derechos de manifestación, reunión y libertad de expresión.
“No tenemos ninguna fábrica, no tenemos hospital oncológico, a pesar de tener la mayor tasa de cáncer de todo Marruecos, por el uso de armas químicas que hizo España [Un estudio de 2015 mostraba que casi el 80% de los adultos y el 50% de los niños enfermos de cáncer atendidos en el hospital de oncología de Rabat procedían de la zona del Rif donde la aviación española bombardeó con gas mostaza entre 1924 y 1927 ].
-Construcción y equipamiento de hospitales,universidades y escuelas. Derecho a una sanidad y educación públicas de calidad y gratuitas.
-Medidas sociales de reparto de la riqueza que permitan el fin de la miseria. Derecho a una vivienda y una vida dignas.
-Fin de la corrupción y del entramado mafioso que gobierna el Magreb.
-Respeto a la cultura y lengua rifeña.
-Libertad política y sindical.
Rif – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre El Rif (en amazigh, Arrif y en árabe, الريف [Ar-Rīf]) es una región con zonas montañosas y zonas verdes del norte de Marruecos
CNT ha apostado siempre por construir un mundo sin fronteras, en el que las personas no tengan que abandonar su tierra por la persecución política o la falta de trabajo y derechos sociales, que son de tod@s.
Por eso animamos a tod@s a dar el máximo apoyo posible a los compañeros y las compañeras del RIF, apoyando a los comites de solidaridad y asistiendo a todas las manifestaciones y concentraciones que se realicen por esta causa.
CNT-Córdoba Secretaría de Exteriores – Comité Confederal
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El hirak o la revuelta en el Rif: tras las huellas de Abd-El-Krim – Viento Sur 14.6.2017
http://ctxt.es/es/20170628/Politica/13570/CTXT-Hirak-Rif-Marruecos-Naziha-Al-Idrissi-entrevista.htm
El documental Romper el silencio, de Tarek Idrissi,
The Free 