As a constitutional monarchy located in North Africa, Morocco has undergone important reforms concerning the protection of individual rights and liberties during King Mohammed VI’s rule since 1999. Despite these improvements, however, human rights are still under substantial threats and rights violations are regular, especially in regard to freedom of speech and academic freedom. Freedom of speech for both academics and non-academics is most frequently restricted on subjects such as the rule of the king, the Western Sahara conflict, and the politics of Islam. Law enforcement and university administrations regularly engage in such rights violations.

Student groups are organized on campuses around the country and regularly engage in political activism, which is often met with disciplinary and punitive measures from their own universities. In May 2024, 15 medical students were suspended from three faculties of medicine located in Rabat, Oujda, and Tangier. The students had been boycotting classes since January 2024, in protest of the joint decision of the Ministries of Health and Higher Education to shorten medical education from seven years to six. Students mobilizing on more directly political issues have faced even harsher treatment. Students in Morocco have been protesting against the normalization of relations between the states of Morocco and Israel since 2020, when Morocco re-established diplomatic ties with Israel. In the last four years, many Moroccan universities have established collaborative ties with Israeli universities, which have become under increased scrutiny since October 2023 and the subsequent emergence of a global student movement calling for boycotting Israeli educational and cultural institutions that are complicit in genocide against Palestinians.[1] In one case, in April 2022, Ibn Tofaïl University closed the campus for three days in order to prevent “The Jerusalem Forum”, which included a series of events critical of normalization of relations  with Israel. More recently, in July 2024, the Dean of the Higher School of Technology of the Hassan II University confronted a student wearing a keffiyeh during graduation and refused to grant her the reward she had won. 

Some students protesting the same issues have also faced police repression, such as those protesting the decision of Abdelmalek Essaadi University to shut down its campus for four days in order to prevent a conference on Palestine from taking place. The students were first attacked and dispersed by police forces, and then arrested on March 21, 2024.[2] Although students were later released, they recounted having undergone abuse while under detention.[3] In another similar incident, on March 23, 2023, the police raided Hassan II University in order to disperse students protesting the normalization of relations between Israel and Morocco, injuring 53 students in the process.

Alongside students mobilizing on political issues, faculty who are critical of the government face state repression. One such scholar is Maati Monjib, a critic of the Moroccan government and human rights activist, who was first arrested and subjected to an unfair trial in 2020 and 2021. In March 2021, Dr. Monjib was released. However, he has faced continuous harassment by the regime, including having his bank accounts frozen and restricting his freedom of movement. In March 2023, Dr. Monjib was suspended without pay from his teaching position at Mohammed V University. Another scholar and human rights activist who has been similarly repressed is Mohamed Ziane, who has been imprisoned since November 2022. While imprisoned, Ziane has been held in solitary confinement, prevented from writing to his lawyer and denied access to newspapers, in violation of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.[4] 

Endangered Scholars Worldwide (ESW) strongly condemns the ongoing violations of academic freedom in Morocco perpetrated by the Moroccan government and university administrations. We call on university administrators in Morocco to respect the academic freedom of students by ceasing punitive actions against students engaging in activism on campuses. We further call upon the Moroccan government to end police crackdowns on student protests as well as the prosecution and persecution of government critics and human rights activists. We invite the global community devoted to upholding human rights to join our calls.

(Last updated: August 14, 2024)

Please send appeals to the following:

Omar Hilale

Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Morocco to the United Nations

Email:morocco.un@maec.gov.ma

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Sources:

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[1] https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20240515202629618

[2] https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/report/2024-03-19-abdelmalek-essaadi-university/

[3] https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20240322101313464

[4]https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/05/morocco-denying-imprisoned-academics-and-journalists-access-to-read-and-write-violates-their-right-to-freedom-of-expression/