Morocco jails farmers for protesting

Twenty farmers have been sentenced to up to four years after clashes with police in the Settat region of Morocco.

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The farmers were protesting against the police presence on land they own, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights said.

An official in the Moroccan Assembly, Omar Arbib, said the clashes took place between police and farmers last month which resulted in a number of villagers wounded and a large number of them arrested.

On Monday, a Moroccan court ruled that the 12 farmers will each serve between three and four years in prison. Arbib blasted as “unacceptable” the sentences handed down to a number of minors.

Local newspapers reported that the farmers revolted in anger after they were offered by cooperative companies to restore the land they have farmed for many years. The police were forced to intervene when the dispute became violent.