Morocco: Health of jailed intellectual Maatib Monjib reportedly deteriorating

Posted On 11 March 2021

Number of times this article was read : 135

Supporters of a jailed Moroccan historian and rights activist expressed “serious concern” for his health on Wednesday, days after he began a hunger strike. The support committee for 60-year-old Maatib Monjib “expresses its serious concern about the effects of (his) hunger strike on his health and on his life”, it said in a statement. Monjib was arrested in December after prosecutors said they had seized evidence of money transfers and real estate assets beyond the means of the historian and his family.

A Moroccan court sentenced him in January to one year in prison for fraud and undermining state security, as part of a trial that opened in 2015. His defence team said they were not told about the hearing and Monjib purportedly was not in attendance. Monjib launched the hunger strike to “protest against the injustice of which he has been victim”, the committee statement said. It renewed appeals for the immediate release of the “prisoner of conscience”. In a statement on Facebook in November saying he had contracted the novel coronavirus, Monjib said he also suffered from heart problems and diabetes. He began his hunger strike last Thursday in order to draw attention to his situation since his “wrongful arrest”, according to an earlier statement released by his supporters.

Rights group Amnesty International in January urged Morocco to release Monjib and drop all charges, saying the kingdom was on a “relentless quest” to curtail his right to freedom of expression and “bully him into submission”. The historian has said his “critical writing about the political system and the police, and my human rights activities” are at the root of his “persecution”. The DGAPR prison administration authority said in a statement that Monjib, incarcerated in the El Arjat prison near Rabat, had been “placed under medical monitoring” on Monday. It said it had only been informed of Monjib’s hunger strike that day, and disputed the hunger strike’s start date. The prison unsuccessfully “tried to persuade him to drop his action because of the impact on his health”, the authority said in a statement Monday. Moroccan judicial authorities have said Monjib received a “fair trial”.

AFP
Other Articles in this Week's Issue<< Mauritania: Ex-President Ould Abdel Aziz facing tough corruption chargesEgypt considers critics and political opponents as terrorists, world starting to push back >>
The North Africa Journal's WhatsApp Group
.

Most Recent Stories from the Region

Sahel: A Primer on the Northern Mali Crisis

Sahel: A Primer on the Northern Mali Crisis

Northern Mali has always been a region of turmoil, and the responsibility for the misery there starts with the central government in Bamako. Violence, social, economic and environmental turmoil has hit the people of the Azawad region hard, deeply affecting the Tuareg,...

Algeria boosts defense budget to tackle cross-border threats

Algeria boosts defense budget to tackle cross-border threats

Algeria’s draft Finance Law for the year 2025 earmarks record spending for its military and defense.  The Ministry of Defense, which oversees the country’s armed forces, will receive more than US$25 billion, an increase of over 10% compared to 2024.  The move is...

Libya’s fragmented military and competition for its control

Libya’s fragmented military and competition for its control

While the world is focused on the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, a power struggle continues to destabilize Libya, with protagonists competing for the control of the armed forces. Three factions are now at the center of an ongoing struggle over the fate of the...

Written by The North Africa Journal

The North Africa Journal is a leading English-language publication focused on North Africa. The Journal covers primarily the Maghreb region and expands its general coverage to the Sahel, Egypt, and beyond, when events in those regions affect the broader North Africa geography. The Journal does not have any affiliation with any institution and has been independent since its founding in 1996. Our position is to always bring our best analysis of events affecting the region, and remain as neutral as humanly possible. Our coverage is not limited to one single topic, but ranges from economic and political affairs, to security, defense, social and environmental issues. We rely on our full staff analysts and editors to bring you best-in-class analysis. We also work with sister company MEA Risk LLC, to leverage the presence on the ground of a solid network of contributors and experts. Information on MEA Risk can be found at www.MEA-Risk.com.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This