Moroccan king probes abuse
16/12/2005 22:35  - (SA)  

'Why was I tortured?'

Rabat - Morocco's King Mohammed VI has ordered the release of a report probing three decades of human rights abuses, including killings and torture.

A palace statement issued on Friday said the king has "taken note of the nature of the final report of the Equity and Reconciliation Panel (IER) and commanded that it be published and brought to the knowledge of the people".

The IER is a 17-member independent panel set up by King Mohammed VI in November 2003 to probe reports of killings, disappearances, torture and other serious abuses that occurred during the reign of his father, Hassan II, between 1960 and 1999.

Moroccan government spokesperson Nabil Benabdellah said: "We intend to give a very warm welcome to the different recommendations made in this report.

"We consider the report to bear witness of the deep desire of his majesty the king and his government to turn a page in our history".

The king's decision to set up the commission was the first of its kind in the Arab world.

Panel unearthed 663 graves

The IER held public hearings of former political detainees or their family members, the initial sessions of which were shown live on television.

It heard from 16 861 people and unearthed the graves, often plots set apart in the cemeteries of major towns, of 663 people who could be identified and had been regarded as "disappeared".

In its report back to King Mohammed VI, the IER recommended "the primacy of international human rights law over Moroccan law, the separation of powers, the total independence of the judiciary and the presumption of innocence as well as the right to a fair trial".

The panel insisted the state go on to ban "forced disappearances, arbitrary detentions, genocide and other crimes against humanity, torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and the prohibition of all forms of incitement to racism, xenophobia, violence and hatred".

A government source said the king would consider the manner and way in which the state's apology should be made to the people.

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