Morocco prosecutes 'torturers'
2008-01-10 20:42
Rabat - Moroccan authorities in 2007 found cause to prosecute 17 members of the security services for human rights violations including torture, Justice Minister Abdelouahed Radi has announced.
Radi said 14 more cases filed against agents were being probed to see whether prosecution was warranted, during an address to parliament late on Wednesday.
A member of the Islamist Party of Justice and Development, Abdallah Baha, called for a commission of enquiry into "torture at Temara", where the National Security Directorate (DST), or intelligence service, is based.
"We shouldn't exaggerate the problem," Radi said during the debate. "All states and not only Morocco have progress to make in the matter of human rights."
Moroccan lawmakers in 2005 passed legislation making torture in the north African kingdom punishable with jail terms of between five and 15 years.
Human rights watchdog Amnesty International in 2006 asked the government to authorise visits to detention centres in order to end and prevent torture.