Charges Against Moroccan Police

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30365, 14 February 1964, Page 11

Charges Against Moroccan Police

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter— Copyright) GENEVA, February 13. An observer from the International Commission of Jurists reported today that Moroccan police had subjected the 102 accused in the current conspiracy trial there to “vile and prolonged torture.”

The observer, Mr Erik Poulsson, a Norwegian Sup-reme-Court advocate, listed in his report several “serious violations” of fundamental human rights, the Moroccan Constitution and principles of the International Commission of Jurists. Mr Poulsson said he was refused permission to speak to the principal accused, who had alleged very severe torture by police and a refusal by the Court to allow a medical examination. The 102 accused are members of the National Union of Popular Forces Party and are charged with conspiring to assassinate King Hassan and overthrow the Government. All defence counsel have now withdrawn, protesting that rights of the defence were not being respected and the accused are refusing to reply to question put by the Court. Torture Alleged

Statements from party leaders indicated many or all accused were subjected to “vile and prolonged torture” by police and that every day four or five detainees were tortured in an adjoining room where the others were held. “The detainees were able to hear the cries of pain of their comrades while waiting their turn to be tortured,” Mr Poulsson wrote:

Police also violated the Declaration of Human Rights in arresting the accused, with “no warrant whatsoever” and in keeping them in custody for one or two months without access to their legal advisers. The arrest of a number of members of Parliament among the accused was a “flagrant breach of the Parliamentary privilege of free-

dom from arrest” in the Moroccan Constitution, he said. However he emphasised the favourable aspect that the accused and their counsel had complete freedom of expression, many journalists attended the trial and there was no restriction on the public attending, adding “in many countries, aiid not only in Africa, there would in similar circumstances have been no trial at all, but simply disappearances or liquidations.”