Morocco’s General Delegation of Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) announced Monday that several Hirak detainees were put in solitary confinement, including leading figure Nasser Zefzafi after an audio recording attributed to him was leaked to social media.
In a statement received by Asharq Al-Awsat, the Administration said that after the emergence of this audio, an administrative inquiry has been launched to investigate the recording attributed to Zefzafi.
The statement added that the investigation concluded there was a serious negligence by the director of the local prison of Ras el-Ma in Fes, and a number of employees of this institution, who have been subjected to appropriate disciplinary action.
The incident began when a group of prisoners rebelled against the backdrop of al-Hoceima incident and refused to take orders from the prisons’ guards and assaulted them.
The prisoners were then subject to disciplinary actions including solitary confinement and ban on family visits and phone calls for 45 days.
It is noteworthy that social media activists circulated an audio recording last week, attributed to Zefzafi, in which he is criticizing some activists for burning the Moroccan flag in a march in the French capital Paris.
The General Delegation of Prison Administration had earlier relieved the director of Ras el-Ma prison from his duties, because of Zefzafi’s leaked audio.
Casablanca’s Court of Appeal upheld in April, a preliminary sentence of 20 years imprisonment in force against Zefzafi, on charges of “participation in harming internal state security” as well as 41 others who were sentenced to imprisonment between one and 20 years, in a final ruling.
