Human Rights Declaration The Committee for Justice (CFJ) expresses its deep indignation following the verdict rendered by the criminal chamber of the Rabat Court of Appeal, on Wednesday April 8, 2026, condemning the lawyer and former Minister of Human Rights Man, Mohamed Ziane (84 years old), to five years in prison. The committee emphasizes that this judgment, which came after the annulment of a previous sentence by the Court of Cassation for lack of clarity of the elements of the case, establishes a trend towards judicial harassment against dissenting voices.
The committee considers that the proceedings against Mr. Ziane for “embezzlement and dissipation of public funds” relating to facts dating from 2015 lack guarantees of a fair trial, in particular because of the restrictions hindering the defense’s access to the archives financial necessary for his exoneration. The committee is surprised by the reclassification of administrative irregularities linked to party financing —normally relating to accounting procedures— as serious criminal crimes, which reinforces the hypothesis of the political nature of this trial with regard to the critical positions of the person concerned.
The committee insists that the continued detention of an 84-year-old man, whose state of health is precarious, contravenes fundamental human rights principles and article 10 of the International Covenant on Human Rights civil and political. Consequently, the Committee for Justice (CFJ) calls on the Moroccan authorities to immediately release President Mohamed Ziane for humanitarian and medical reasons, to put an end to abusive legal proceedings and to guarantee the independence of justice in the face of political score-settling.
Morocco: Le CFJ condamne la condamnation du bâtonnier Mohamed Ziane
