Moroccan Minister of Justice, Abdellatif Ouahbi, announced he will submit an amnesty request to King Mohammed VI, for the release of “Hirak Rif prisoners.”
In a response to the interventions of the members of the Committee on Justice, Legislation and Human Rights in the House of Representatives this Thursday, Ouahbi explained that the case is closed in a judicial sense, a royal pardon is the last resort.
The file will be “referred to the amnesty council, which will then decide on it according to its criteria, before referring it to the King.”
The official stressed that he defended the Hirak movement detainees when he was in the government opposition, and will continue to defend them from his current position as Minister of Justice.
Ouahbi had previously promised he would submit the Hirak case for royal pardon back in February this year, while campaigning for the 2021 election.
Prior to his ministerial appointment, the minister, a lawyer by trade, represented Hirak detainees, prosecuted on charges of sedition and conspiracy against the state.
The process of royal pardons is guaranteed and outlined in the constitution, as King Mohammed VI had previously pardoned 336 Hirak detainees between 2020 and 2021, hopes remain high.
The minister reiterated his position during an interview this Thursday, on national television channel 2M.
Ouahbi additionally tackled other headlining subjects pertaining to his ministry, namely the retraction of the Penal Code Reform draft bill, pending parliamentary approval since 2016.
Capital punishment, which he opposes, individual freedoms, expansion of penal transactions, amnesty for cannabis growers, alternative sentences were all areas the minister says he will push for reform.
Ouahbi also addresses the subject of drug use, saying “it makes no sense we punish drug addicts with prison time, they should have access to rehabilitation centers instead.”
The official was keen to recall his personal convictions, particularly in favor of individual freedoms, amendments to legal procedures on abortion norms and the abolition of the death penalty.
Ouahbi stated that the Ministry of Justice will refer the Code of Criminal Procedure to the relevant bodies at the end of this month for review, but said he will not pass the reform on his own, that the entire government needs to agree and that considering “we live in a majoritarly muslim society, reforms may be restricted to what is deemed accesptable by the group.”
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