The WJC leadership also kept in close touch with the leaders of the Moroccan independence movement, including the exiled sultan of Morocco, Mohammed V, who insisted that an autonomous Morocco would guarantee the freedom and equality of all its citizens, including access of non-Muslims to public administration. When Morocco became independent from France in 1956, WJC Political Director Alex Easterman immediately began negotiations with Prime Minister Mbarek Bekkay and other government officials, pressing them to grant Jews the right to leave.