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Morocco and Western Sahara

Capital city — Rabat

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Panorama

Latest updates

Number of death sentences

58

i
2021
/ prison service, Report 2021, p. 141, table 16.

Including one woman.

The number of death sentence increases by 13,73 % between 2020 (51)1 and 2021.

  1. prison service, Report 2020, p. 149, table 16. ↩

  • 83 people were sentenced to death in 2022.

    i
    23/12/2023
    / Al3omk

Number of deaths in custody

204

i
2021
/ prison service, Report 2021, p. 152, tableau 45.

This number includes four women and 30 defendants. The majority of deaths (77.2 %) occurred in the hospital, 7.6 % in the prison infirmary, and 5.6 % in the rest of the detention centre.

  • 186 deaths were logged in 2022. This figure is 8.82% lower than in 2021.

    i
    23/12/2023
    / TelexPresse

Staff do not benefit from any benefits other than their salary. This is a contentious issue for the majority of staff. The Director of DGAPR highlights the lack of resources from their institution and staff exhaustion.

  • The Moroccan Prison Observatory is calling for the hiring of additional prison staff. To that end, it is calling for improved working conditions and compensation.

    i
    21/12/2023
    / Madar21

Prisoners are allowed to pass diplomas and entry examinations

yes

Prisoners can take the same exams in prison as they could outside. Exams take place in the prison education centre. They are supervised and organised by teachers from the national education sector.
The number of prison training centres increased from 15 to 48 between 2019 and 2020.1

  1. General Delegation for Prison Administration and Rehabilitation (DGAPR), “2020 Report”, 2020, p. 21 (in French). ↩

  • Incarcerated high school graduates at the Salé 2 local prison receive guidance assistance from Mohammed V University in Rabat.

    i
    28/07/2023
    / Maroc Diplomatique

The duration for placement in solitary confinement is limited

yes, 45 days

Isolation in solitary confinement can not exceed 45 days. (Penitentiary law, article 54).

Every decision which relates to extending solitary confinement past one month is a matter for the head of the prison service. The warden and prison doctor’s recommendations are taken into consideration. (Penetentiary Law, article 32).

The president of the disciplinary commission can decide to place a prisoner in solitary confinement as a precautionary measure. This type of confinement cannot last more than 48 hours. It is permitted “on the condition that this is the only way to stop misbehaviour or to maintain order in the prison” (Penitentiary law, article 58).

Minors cannot be placed in solitary confinement.

  • The Administration of the Aïn Sebaâ 1 local prison denies the accusations circulated on social media about confining a prisoner in solitary for one year and four months, forbidding them from any phone communication with their family and stripping them of other rights.

    i
    03/08/2023
    / Maroc Diplomatique

Number and percentage of elderly prisoners

1.9 % (1,698)
i
31/12/2021
/ prison service, Report 2021, p. 134, table 2.

The number of elderly prisoners increases by 16,62 % between 2020 (1 456)1 and 2021.

  1. prison service, Report 2020, p. 142, table 2. ↩

  • As of 20 September 2023, there are 2,324 incarcerated individuals over the age of 60, including 91 women and 44 foreign nationals.

    i
    03/10/2023
    / Le 360

Torture, violence, and ill-treatment allegations are signaled by the Moroccan NGOs and prisoners themselves to the Executive Officer.

On 8 November 2022, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International spoke out against the arbitrary detention of 19 Sahrawi men. They were convicted and have been imprisoned for 12 years on the basis of their suspected involvement in the violence that occurred on 8 November 2010 in Laâyoune. Eleven police officers and three civilians were killed after a protest encampment was broken up by law enforcement. The trials were fraught with “confessions” obtained through torture.

The United Nations’ Committee against Torture condemned Morocco in 2021 for violations of the Convention against Torture in three cases related to this event.The Committee questions the probative value of the delayed investigations led by the Moroccan justice system concerning these allegations of torture. Since 2017, the 19 men have been scattered across the country. Most of them had lived in Laâyoune before but are now over a thousand kilometres away. They all ask to be transferred to closer prisons.
Several of them led several hunger strikes to protest the violations of their fundamental rights, in particular as they have been refused care and family visits and have been excessively placed in solitary confinement.

  • The Sahrawi community has appealed to the UN, urging it to insist that Morocco adhere to the Convention against Torture. Concurrently, the Sahrawi community residing in France has announced that it is closely monitoring the treatment of Sahrawi prisoners from the Gdim Izik group, accusing the Moroccan authorities of subjecting these prisoners to harassment and abuse.

    i
    03/08/2023
    / Algérie patriotique

  • A 40-minute video documents the sexual assault of a prisoner. In it, the victim recounts the attack and alleges that the medical personnel were complicit in concealing the incident.

    i
    26/07/2023
    / Watan

  • The French human rights activist Claude Mangin raised the alarm over the ongoing abuse faced by Sahrawi prisoners in Moroccan prisons. She is particularly worried about the well-being of three Sahrawi students, imprisoned for seven years, who have been on a hunger strike since 20 February.

    i
    14/03/2023
    / Sahara Press Service

Overcrowding is an issue for specific types of prison facilities

yes

Local Prisons are particularly overpopulated, particularly those in the Rabat-Salé-Kenitra and Casablanca-Settat regions.

  • The Aïn Sebaâ local prison in Casablanca houses 10,877 prisoners, despite having a capacity of only 3,800 beds.

    i
    09/08/2023
    / La Quotidienne

Total official capacity of the prison facilities

61,170

i
31/12/2018
/ World Prison Brief, ICPR

  • As of 7 August 2023, the number of prisoners reached 100,004, exceeding the capacity of 64,000 by around 40,000.

    i
    09/08/2023
    / La Quotidienne

Incarcerated minors

1.2 % (1,028)

Including 22 girls.

i
31/12/2021
/ prison service, Report 2021, p. 34.

  • In May 2023, 355 children were being held in Moroccan prisons.

    i
    28/06/2023
    / Independent Arabia

Number of people serving non-custodial sentences

-

  • The draft law No. 22-43 relating to alternative sentencing includes three alternative sentences: community service, electronic monitoring and the restriction of certain rights. The law also envisages monitoring measures, hospitalisation and rehabilitation. The alternative sentences are not applicable in cases of terrorism, money laundering, drug or narcotic trafficking or organ trafficking. They are also not applicable in cases of the sexual exploitation of minors or persons with disabilities, corruption, bribery, misappropriation of funds or in the event of breaches of trust or the embezzlement of public funds.

    i
    08/06/2023
    / Le matin.ma

  • The Ministry of Justice is proposing a bill to enable judges to replace jail sentences with alternative, non-incarceration penalties. Fines and community service could be handed down instead for offences currently meriting up to two years’ imprisonment. This initiative aims to reduce incarceration rates and tackle the issue of prison overcrowding.

    i
    25/01/2023
    / Médias 24

Total number of prison facilities

75

i
31/12/2021
/ prison service, Report 2021, p. 32.

  • In March 2023, the General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) opened the new El Jadida prison. The establishment of this new facility is part of a strategy to modernise the prison system. The aim is to ease the strain on overcrowded facilities. This prison features a mother-child unit, a 24-bed hospital ward, and an educational centre with a capacity to accommodate 250 prisoners.

    i
    16/03/2023
    / Le 360

Number of deaths attributed to suicide

Data not disclosed

The number of deaths attributed to suicide is not included in the official statistics.

  • A prisoner took his own life by hanging in his cell at Ras El Ma central prison. Just a day earlier, a fellow prisoner died by suicide in the same way at the Oujda prison. Both were on death row for acts of terrorism.

    i
    01/03/2023
    / Yabiladi

Individual acts of protest are recorded

yes, hunger strikes

All hunger strikes must be reported to the director of the prison service, to the prisoner’s family and in the cases of untried prisoners, to the judicial authority (Penitentiary law, article 131).

The number of hunger strikes totalled 1,158 in 2021, according to the Moroccan Observatory of Prisons (Observatoire marocain des prisons, OMP). This number has increased from previous years. The primary motives for these strikes are to protest sentences and verdicts (79% of cases) and object to prison conditions (16%).

  • The General Delegation for Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR), backed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), is initiating a specialised training programme to handle prisoners on hunger strikes. This programme uses the guidelines from the “Manual for Managing Hunger Strikes in Penal Institutions”, a resource developed in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection and the National Human Rights Council. Participants in this program will be qualified to train medical staff, including doctors and nurses, serving in prison facilities.

    i
    12/12/2022
    / Délégation générale à l’administration pénitentiaire et à la réinsertion (DGAPR)

  • On 20 February 2023, Sahrawi prisoners held at Aït Meloul-1 prison launched a hunger strike. They are protesting the infringement of their fundamental rights and decrying the demeaning conditions in the Moroccan prison. They demand a transfer to prisons situated nearer to their families’ residences.

    i
    21/02/2023
    / L’expression

Offences involving minors are investigated and sentenced by specific magistrates.

Investigation:

The juvenile judge investigates files referred by the public prosecutor. Criminal acts are investigated by the officer responsible for minors at the Courts of Appeal.

Trial

Two different authorities are in charge of trials, according to the type of offence and the length of the sentence incurred:

  • the juvenile judge at the court of first instance when the corresponding offence carries a sentence of less than two years in prison

  • the juvenile chamber of the court of first instance when the corresponding offence carries a sentence of more than two years in prison. The chamber is made up of a presiding juvenile judge and two other magistrates.

  • The National Centre for State Courts (NCSC) in Morocco has launched an advocacy campaign called “Making Juvenile Justice More Effective”. This initiative is part of the “Improvement of Detention Conditions for Young Moroccans” programme. The campaign focuses on enhancing legal protections for minors. It aims to ensure better protection, rehabilitation, and reintegration of young offenders by building and improving appropriate facilities. Introducing alternatives to imprisonment is a key goal of this campaign.

    i
    27/03/2023
    / L’opinion

Number of prisoners who have been granted a presidential pardon or amnesty during the year

3,861

i
01/2021
/ prison service, Report 2021, p. 145, tableau 30.

The number of prisoners who have been granted a presidential pardon or amnesty decreases by 59,1 % between 2020 (9 433)1 and 2021 (3 861).

  1. prison service, Report 2020, p. 153, tableau 28. ↩

  • To mark the country’s Manifesto of Independence Day, King Mohammed VI has granted clemency to 991 prisoners: 707 prisoners received reduced sentences, while 284 people, currently free from prison, were granted royal pardons. One prisoner on death row had their sentence switched to life in prison. Nine others had their life sentences commuted to fixed-term imprisonments.

    i
    19/01/2023
    / Morocco World News

The prison service is required to ensure that prisoners sentenced to death maintain family ties. However, these people are isolated and rarely receive visits. The main reasons for this are the geographical distance from the central prisons and the “dishonour” felt by families. A sense of abandonment is widespread among prisoners sentenced to death.

Following their visit in September 2012, the UN Special Rapporteur reported that living conditions on death row in Morocco are classed as cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

  • Prison Insider has published the account of Khadija Amrir, condemned to death in 1995 and freed on 2 August 2016, following a succession of royal pardons for good conduct.

    “They would tell me that if I ever got transferred, it would be because I was going to be executed. I couldn’t get a wink of sleep. I accepted my fate, but I was terrified of being put to death. I was able to stay in touch with my father on a regular basis. When I was sentenced to death, he got divorced from my step-mother. He wanted to see me free before he died - it was his dream, and it came true. He died 40 days after I was freed, at the age of 103“.

    i
    01/02/2017
    / Prison Insider

The prison service does not provide special protection for LGBTI prisoners. These people are in a highly vulnerable position within prisons. They are often the target of attacks.

  • Prison Insider has published the account of Sama, a trans woman serving a sentence in the Boulmharez prison because of her gender identity.

    “And he slapped me hard. I felt my head spin with the third slap. I was scared. So, I signed a statement without even reading it. I later realised that he wrote that I admitted to homosexual relations, which are punishable by the Moroccan law. I was transferred to Boulmharez prison and locked up, again with only male prisoners…”

    i
    06/07/2019
    / Prison Insider

It is not guaranteed that prisoners can maintain family ties during their time in solitary confinement. Isolated prisoners are not allowed visits. The prisoners can write letters but only to their family. Prisoners in solitary confinement maintain their right to freely communicate with their lawyer.

  • Ali Aarrass is being held in isolation, in spite of the decision on 27 March 2017 by the Committee of the United Nations against torture, which ordered Morocco to put an end to this regime. The Belgo-Moroccan was arrested for the first time in 2006 in Spain at Morocco’s behest, on suspicion of terrorism. He was extradited to Morocco in 2010 where he is serving a 12-year sentence. The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention has been unsuccessfully demanding his release since 2013, after he was tortured in Moroccan prisons.

    His sister, Farida Aarrass, has given an account of a visit to her brother in 2017 in Tiflet 2, which is available here.

    i
    10/04/2017
    / Prison Insider