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Rabat – A number of activists gathered yesterday before the parliament building in Rabat to protest the continued existence of the death penalty in Morocco.
Lawyer Abderrahim Jamai, the leader of the protest stated a profound reform of the Penal Code is needed” considering that injury to life itself is a crime and “violation of what is most sacred in human rights, the right to life.”
Similarly, the president of the Association Marocaine des Droits Humains, Ahmed El Haij stipulates that there will only be justice when the government prominently considers the abolishment of the death penalty.
The death penalty exists in the penal code of Morocco primarily as a punishment for crimes resulting in the death of another person, including aggravated murder, abuse, arson, and terrorism. Treason and espionage are also punishable by death.
According to the Cornell Law School Death Penalty Database, there are currently 104 prisoners who have been sentenced to death in Morocco and are currently living on death row. Morocco has not carried out an execution since 1993 when Commissioner Tabit was convicted for many counts of rape, assault and barbaric acts.
This large gap in executions may indicate an unwritten moratorium on carrying out death sentences since 1993, yet justices still sentence prisoners to death because the penalty still exists in the penal code.
