Mohammed Ziane considers himself “judged because of his opinions”. The Moroccan opponent, former president of Rabat and Minister of Human Rights between 1995 and 1996, was arrested and imprisoned on Monday evening after being sentenced on appeal to three years in prison.
“He was transferred to El Arjat prison. He has not even been legally notified (of his conviction) and he has never appeared”, lambasted Ali Reda Ziane, himself a lawyer and who defends his father. “He was condemned (by the Court of Appeal of Rabat) for all possible and imaginable charges”. The prosecution then confirmed that “the competent judicial police services, and on the instructions of the Public Prosecutor, arrested the person concerned and imprisoned him in execution of the provisions of the appeal decision”.
A lawyer in favor of the “Hirak” movement
Shortly before his arrest, he said he “never received a summons to appear”. His son denounced “a gear against [s]his father since he took a stand in favor of the “Hirak” of the Rif”, a powerful social movement which agitated this Berber mountainous region in 2016-2017. Celebrity lawyer Mohammed Ziane, 79, also defended Taoufik Bouachrine, an opposition media boss who has been jailed since 2018 after serving 15 years in prison for ‘sexual assaults’ against eight women, charges he still has. denied by denouncing “a political trial”.
The lawyer was prosecuted under a complaint from the Ministry of the Interior, for eleven counts, including those of “insult against a constituted body”, “defamation”, “adultery” or “sexual harassment” . He was sentenced on February 23 to three years in prison and a fine of 5,000 dirhams (470 euros) but was released.
Criticism of intelligence services
The Moroccan Committee for the Support of Prisoners of Conscience, for its part, said it was “extremely shocked”. “His appeal trial was held in a single hearing, without giving the President of the Bar Ziane the opportunity to defend himself,” criticized this collective of human rights defenders. “He was arrested by more than twenty plainclothes police officers who burst into his office (…), without presenting the slightest judicial decision, which constitutes a flagrant violation of the code of criminal procedure, the Constitution and the international conventions”.
Founder of the Moroccan Liberal Party (PML) and senior civil servant, Mohammed Ziane made himself known for his statements critical of the authorities, in particular the Moroccan intelligence services. The ex-president accused the security services in November 2020 of having “rigged” a video to present in a compromising way an interview between him and a married client in a hotel room. At the time, he accused the boss of the police and internal intelligence, Abdelatif Hammouchi, of being responsible for the “tampering” of the images.