MOROCCO

government: costitutional monarchy

state of civil and political rights: Partly free

constitution: 10 March 1972, revised 4 September 1992 and amended in September 1996; new constitution approved in referendum 1 July 2011

legal system: based on French and Islamic law

legislative system: bicameral Parliament consists of an upper house (Chamber of Counselors) and a lower house (Chamber of Representatives)

judicial system: Supreme Court whose judges are appointed on the recommendation of the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, presided over by the monarch

religion: Muslim majority

death row: 92 (end of 2016, according prison service as reported in the Nation report for the UPR)

year of last executions: 0-0-1993

death sentences: 0

executions: 0

international treaties on human rights and the death penalty:

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Convention on the Rights of the Child

Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

Statute of the International Criminal Court (which excludes the death penalty) (only signed)

situation:
The Country has 11 crimes that carry the death penalty, including aggravated murder, torture, armed robbery, arson, treason, desertion, and attempt to kill the King.
Following the May 16, 2003 bombings in Casablanca in which 43 people lost their lives, the government has started a real and proper war on terrorism. A new anti-terrorist law passed by parliament in May 2003 broadened the range of capital crimes by making ordinary crimes, punishable by life imprisonment under the Criminal Code, punishable by death penalty if designated as terrorist crimes.
The death penalty is subject to pardon which remains the constitutional prerogative of the Sovereign.
On July 1, 2011 the constitutional reforms called for by Mohammed VI were approved by a public referendum with a landslide 98% vote. Reforms included freedom for political parties, the separation of the government’s executive from its judicial branch, women’s rights and minority rights. For the first time, the Constitution affirms life as a fundamental right.
King Mohammed VI has not signed an execution decree since he took the throne on July 23, 1999. Since then, many people on death row had their sentences commuted to life imprisonment, a further sign towards the abolition of capital punishment in the country.
The terrorist attacks in Casablanca, first in May 2003 and then in early 2007, led to resistance on the part of state authorities to the process of abolition of the death penalty under way in the country.
At the end of December 2013, there were four bills on capital punishment deposited at the lower house of Parliament: three of them for the abolition of the death penalty, and the fourth for a ten-year moratorium on executions.
Article 20 of the Moroccan Constitution, which stipulates that “The right to life is the first right of every human being. The law protects this right,” constitutes a legal ground for those who support the abolition of the death penalty. In this regard, on December 12, 2013 the Socialist Group has submitted a bill for consideration by the Committee on Justice of the House of Representatives. While its approach to the issue is fundamentally abolitionist, the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP) still sets a condition to those sentenced to capital punishment: they will never receive royal pardon in exchange for the commutation of the penalty to perpetual imprisonment.
While maintaining their principled opposition to the abolition of the death penalty from the penal code, the Justice and Development Party (PJD), an Islamist political party currently led by Morocco's Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane, demands its regulation. The Islamist Party suggests the establishment of a ten-year moratorium on executions. PJD also suggests that inmates be not executed until their demand for royal amnesty is rejected. Mustapha Ramid, Minister of Justice and Liberties, joined his voice to the supporters of capital punishment, noting that the Moroccan society “is not yet ready to accept the abolition.” To corroborate his position, he shared the results of a survey conducted by a news website, in which 75% were in favour of maintaining the death penalty. Minister Ramid urged the parliament to conduct a consultation of the Moroccan people through a referendum, as a prerequisite before making any decisions.
Since 1973, only two people were put to death. The last execution took place in 1993 when Mohammed Tabet, Chief of Police and Chief of Intelligence of the country, was executed for abuses of power and the rape of hundreds of woman and girls.
On 16 June 2014, addressing the two Houses of Parliament, the Chairman of the National Human Rights Council (CNDH), Driss El Yazami, stressed the need to implement the main institutional recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, including the ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and the abolition of the death penalty. Although this provided campaigners with some hope that the kingdom was moving towards abolishing capital punishment, Morocco's Islamist-led parliament has not yet done so. On 8 October 2014, rights activists accused Moroccan authorities of keeping prisoners awaiting execution in "inhumane and unacceptable conditions". Abderrahim Jamai, coordinator of the Moroccan Coalition Against the Death Penalty (CMCPM), said some prisoners "have already spent 15 years in their cells and that begs the question about the amount of time it takes to implement a sentence." "Many of those condemned to death suffer from mental issues and endure extremely difficult psychological conditions," said lawmaker Nouzha Skalli, a former minister and spokeswoman for the Parliamentary Network Against the Death Penalty in Morocco.
According to government information, in 2015 Morocco imposed 9 death sentences, as in 2014, reported Amnesty International. As of 4 May 2016, there were about 120 people on death row, including some prisoners who had already spent 15 years in their cells. Many of those condemned to death suffer from mental issues and endure extremely difficult psychological conditions, according to lawmaker Nouzha Skalli, a former minister and spokeswoman for the Parliamentary Network Against the Death Penalty in Morocco.

On 30 July 2016 the Throne Day, King Mohammed VI granted pardon to 1,272 persons who were convicted by different courts across the Kingdom, the Ministry of Justice said in a statement.
According to Amnesty International, in 2016 Morocco imposed 6 death sentences and at least 92 people are on death row at the end of the year.

United Nations
On 22 May 2012, Morocco was reviewed under the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council. The Government reiterated that no capital punishment had been carried out since 1993, adding that there was also a draft law which aimed at reducing the number of crimes punished with death. Morocco rejected recommendations to introduce a de jure moratorium on the executions as rapidly as possible, to commute all death sentences to prison sentences and abolish, once and for all, the death penalty. However, it accepted recommendations to continue the implementation of a de facto moratorium on executions and make efforts to achieve the total abolishment of capital punishment.
On 19 December 2016, Morocco abstained again from the Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly.

news

Death penalty for violent crimes

Morocco: a deputy sentenced to death for the murder of four people

08 June 2018

8 November 2017: a member of the Party for Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) was sentenced to death by the criminal division of the Court of Appeal of Kénitra.

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Nador: the killer of a Moroccan couple living in Spain sentenced to death

08 June 2018

October 5, 2017: the criminal division of the Court of Appeal of Nador has sentenced to death a young man for the murder of a couple of Moroccans living in Spain.

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Morocco: murderer of the Jewish couple sentenced to death

07 June 2018

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08 June 2018 :

8 November 2017: a member of the Party for Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) was sentenced to death by the criminal division of the Court of Appeal of Kénitra. The man had been tried for killing four people.
The facts are reported by the newspaper Al Massae.

December 29th 2016, the 39-year-old deputy, in possession of a license for firearms, used his gun to kill four people, including two brothers that the man accused of having broken into his brother’s house and being introduced to his house.
That day, he was furious, armed with his Beretta rifle and several bullets to look for the attackers. In cold blood, he kills the four victims before attempting to kill himself.
The newspaper reports that it has taken several hours of negotiations with the policemen so that the man put away the weapon with which he threatened to kill himself. For these facts he was sentenced to death, writes the newspaper.

08 June 2018 :

5 October 2017: the criminal division of the Court of Appeal of Nador has sentenced to death a young man for the murder of a couple of Moroccans living in Spain.
Last February he had broken into the couple's house and attacked the husband, stabbing him before slaughtering his wife who in the meantime had gone to seek help. He then injured their daughter and her aunt, one in the face and the other in the arm and managed to escape with the couple's car, the murderer was arrested shortly after by the police in the province of Driouch, just twenty kilometers from the crime scene. Sentenced to death, he will also have to pay 35,000 dirham of damages to the victims' family.

(Source: https://www.bladi.net/nador-meurtrier-condamne-mort,49681.html)

07 June 2018 :

29 May 2017: The Criminal Chamber at Casablanca Court of First Instance announced that it would demand the death penalty against the gardener named Mustapha R, accused of the murder of two Moroccan citizens of Jewish confession a year ago, reports the Arabic news website Alyaoum 24.
The accused, who worked as a gardener for the Toledano couple, was sentenced for this case with his wife, whose sentence was reduced from three to two years in prison, specifies the same source.
The verdict was also pronounced against a jeweler owner, sentenced to one year in prison.
The judicial police of Casablanca arrested on July eight 2016 Mustapha R. for premeditated murder, robbery and mutilation of the bodies of the couple.
According to a statement by the Directorate General of National Security (DGSN), theft is the main reason for this crime. The convicted had stolen jewels of great value.

(Source:http://koide9enisrael.blogspot.com/2017/06/maroc-le-meurtrier-du-couple-juif.html)

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Amnesty

MOROCCAN KING PARDONS 415 CONVICTS ON EVE OF REVOLUTION ANNIVERSARY

08 September 2017

The Morocco's King Mohammed VI has granted pardon to 415 convicts found guilty of terrorism, the Ministry of Justice said.

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Legislation

MOROCCO: HIGH RELIGIOUS COMMITTEE SAYS APOSTATES SHOULD NOT BE KILLED

08 February 2017

Morocco’s High Religious Committee has retracted its Islamic ruling stating that apostasy is punishable by death and has decided to permit Muslims to change their religion.

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08 February 2017 :

Morocco’s High Religious Committee has retracted its Islamic ruling stating that apostasy is punishable by death and has decided to permit Muslims to change their religion.
The High Religious Committee in charge of issuing Fatwas (Islamic rulings) released a book in 2012 where it articulated its position on apostasy and argued that a Muslim who changes his or her religion should be punished with death, drawing on a widespread jurisprudence tradition.
Recently, however, the same entity issued a document titled “The Way of the Scholars,” in which it backtracked on its position of killing apostates. Instead, it redefined apostasy not as a religious issue but as a political stand more closely aligned with “high treason.”
The view that the apostate should not be killed in Islam is not a new one and can be found in the teachings of Sufyan al-Thawri in the first century AH. The scholar reviewed historical situations where the prophet Mohammed acted on the ruling, as opposed to the times he did not order the killing of the apostates. He concluded that killings occurred for political purposes and were not decisions based on religion. The apostates could, theoretically, disclose the secrets of the then fragile Islamic nation.
The reasons behind Morocco’s High Religious Committee’s change in position are not different from those advocated by Sufyan al-Thawri. Their newly released statement says:
“The most accurate understanding, and the most consistent with the Islamic legislation and the practical way of the Prophet, peace be upon him, is that the killing of the apostate is meant for the traitor of the group, the one disclosing secrets, […] the equivalent of treason in international law.”
The High Religious Committee presented the Prophet’s statement that “whoever changes his religion, kill him” in the light of his explanation “the one who leaves his religion and abandons his people.” The statement further explains that, at the time of continuous wars against the Islamic revolution in Arabia, apostates represented the threat of disclosing the secrets of new Ummah to its many enemies.
The document went to explain that during the Treaty of Hudaybiyyah, Prophet Mohammed himself observed the provisions stating that whomever became a Muslim and renounced it must be allowed to return to Quraich, the Muslim nations’ most powerful enemy at the time. When a Bedouin decided to leave Islam after the Treaty, therefore, the prophet simply let him go.
Using Islam’s primary source of legislation, the High Religious Committee stated that the Quran talks in many instances about apostasy and its punishment in the hereafter, without mentioning any punishment in this life as in Chapter 2 verse 217 that says: “And whoever of you reverts from his religion [to disbelief] and dies while he is a disbeliever – for those, their deeds have become worthless in this world and the Hereafter, and those are the companions of the Fire, they will abide therein eternally.”
The document also explained that the famous Wars of Apostasy launched by Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, the Muslims world’s first Caliph, were in line with his effort to keep the newly established state together and fight all sorts of internal divisions. This was a decision based on political reasoning rather than by religious motivations.

(Sources: moroccoworldnews.com, 06/02/2017)

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