Morocco: 'The prevention of torture' training

On Wednesday, a workshop was launched to train prison officials in Morocco on the “treatment of prisoners and the prevention of torture.”

According to Anadolu reporter, the one-day workshop which is dedicated to “strengthening the prisons officials’ capacity as regard to the prevention of torture and the treatment of prisoners,” is organized in cooperation with the Dutch Embassy in Rabat, Morocco.

The workshop “comes within the context of strengthening the capacity of the staff of the General Delegation for Prisons Administration in the prevention of torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment in prison institutions,” said Mohamed Saleh Tamek, General Delegate for the Department of Prisons Administration and Reintegration in Morocco.

In a speech he delivered on this occasion, Tamek stated that this workshop is part of a project, which aims at promoting the culture of human rights in the management of prisons on a daily basis and at “improving the status of prisons and humanizing them.”

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He also called for “respecting Morocco’s international human rights obligations, and in particular the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the Optional Protocol to this Convention as well as abiding by the minimum standards for the treatment of prisoners.”.

Tamek also stressed “the need to enshrine human rights reference in the context of law enforcement related to prison sentences and to strengthen the fundamental rights of prisoners.”

Last week, Nasser Zefzafi, field commander of Hirak Rif, revealed during his trial at the Casablanca Court of appeal that he was subjected to “physical and moral torture as well as a humiliating treatment that degrades human dignity.”

Last Thursday, the Moroccan government commented on what Zefzafi said, stating that “the judiciary must assume full responsibility for the inquiry and investigation of this data and revealing the truth.”