(Rabat) Franco-Moroccan historian and human rights defender Maâti Monjib, on hunger strike for 19 days, will be released on bail after three months in detention, his lawyer told AFP on Tuesday.
“The examining magistrate decided to release him provisionally, measures are underway to extract him from prison“, declared Mr. Mohamed Messaoudi, specifying that the health of his client was “good even if he lost. 12 kilos ”.
“Abusive” arrest
The 60-year-old intellectual denounced his “abusive” arrest since his arrest on December 29 as part of a preliminary investigation for “money laundering“.
At the same time, he was sentenced to one year in prison on January 27 for “fraud” and “endangering state security” after a trial opened in 2015 and repeatedly postponed. His lawyers and his support committee were outraged by the judgment, delivered in the absence of the accused and without summons to his defense.
Mr. Monjib has always denied the facts with which he is accused.
Faced with criticism, the Moroccan authorities always emphasize the independence of the judiciary and the conformity of procedures.
Almost two weeks ago, Mr. Monjib had a complaint filed in Paris for “moral harassment”, “endangering the life of others” and “arbitrary detention”.
“A real political police”
The historian “is one of the most emblematic critical voices of the Moroccan regime, denouncing in particular the stranglehold of the security services on political life, which is akin to a real political police”, underlined his French lawyers at the time.
His supporters in France and Morocco have repeatedly called for the “immediate release” of the “prisoner of conscience“, worrying about the “effects, on his health and on his life, of (his) hunger strike”.
Maâti Monjib suffers from heart problems and diabetes, medical problems he mentioned on his Facebook page when he announced in November that he had been infected with the coronavirus.
“His morale is good,” his lawyer said on Tuesday, adding that he wanted his client “to benefit from all the guarantees of a fair trial.”
