Balafrej asks for the immediate release of Rif political detainees

Balafrej asks for the immediate release of Rif political detainees

Moroccan parliamentarian Omar Balafrej.
Moroccan parliamentarian Omar Balafrej.

Rabat, Morocco (TMT)- On the sidelines of his weekly podcast where he sheds light on his political week as a parliamentarian, Omar Balafraj called upon the Moroccan authorities to immediately release the arrested Rifi activists, referring to them as “political detainees.”

Balafrej stressed in his podcast that he asked various written questions in the parliament, including questions about the actual situation in the Rif, but stressed that most of them were met by a deaf ear from various ministers.

Balafrej added that most Moroccan ministers do not respect the law when it comes to answering parliamentarians’ questions, getting caught red-handed in a breach of the Moroccan constitution as article 100 stipulates that a minister should answer within a limit of 20 days, which most Ministers fail to do.

“Mr Chenaoui and I asked the president of the parliament to hold an exceptional session regarding what is going on in the Rif, but there was no response to our request,” Balafrej said.

Balafrej went on to stress that he asked 3 written questions this week, with the first one revolving around the Moroccan national TV sharing propaganda images about the Rif protests, while the second question concerned the use of political discourse by imams inside mosques and the need to separate the state from religion.

The last written question hinged on accusations of violations of human rights and the use of torture to quell Rifi protests.

“There is no trust in state institutions,” Balafrej said.

“Sharing propaganda images in a national tv is something I cannot tolerate. I asked the Moroccan Minister of Communication about this,” Balafrej said.

The Moroccan Times.