A coalition of international human rights organizations, backed by a UN official, has called on Moroccan authorities to release Nasser Zefzafi, the imprisoned leader of the Hirak al-Rif protest movement, so he can care for his ailing father.
The appeal, signed by Freedom House, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, MENA Rights Group, the International Service for Human Rights, Rif Alert, the International Federation for Human Rights, and others, was endorsed on social media by Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.
Addressed to Morocco’s king, the statement urged the government to “immediately release human rights defender Nasser Zefzafi on humanitarian grounds, so he can care for his elderly father, who was recently diagnosed with stage-four cancer.”
Zefzafi, a prominent figure in the 2016–2017 Hirak al-Rif protests in northern Morocco’s Al Hoceima region, was arrested in May 2017 and sentenced in June 2018 to 20 years in prison alongside other leaders and participants.
The movement had mobilized tens of thousands demanding an end to the marginalization of Amazigh-speaking communities, better healthcare and infrastructure, an end to corruption, and more job opportunities.
The appeal noted that Zefzafi’s father is undergoing chemotherapy for an incurable form of cancer, and argued that his release would allow him to accompany and care for his father “in the best possible conditions.”
“Releasing Nasser Zefzafi on humanitarian grounds would not only bring relief to a suffering family, but also reaffirm Morocco’s commitment to its international obligations,” the statement concluded.
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