Rabat – The Moroccan prison authority has allowed detained activist Nasser Zefzafi to temporarily leave Tangier 2 prison to visit his sick father, Ahmed Zefzafi, in a private clinic in Al Hoceima.
Nasser’s brother, Tarek Zefzafi, shared the news in a Facebook post on Friday, noting that the visit came after a request made by Nasser earlier that day. The Zefzafi family welcomed the decision and described it as a gesture of compassion and humanity.
According to Tarek, the visit brought comfort to both Nasser and his ailing father. “The family appreciated and welcomed this step, which brought joy to our father and gave him a much-needed psychological boost to face his illness,” he wrote.
Nasser Zefzafi is one of the most prominent figures of the Hirak Rif movement, a wave of protests that swept the Al Hoceima region in northern Morocco following the death of local fish vendor Mohcine Fikri in October 2016.
Fikri died after he was crushed in a garbage truck while trying to retrieve his confiscated fish. His death sparked public outrage and triggered large-scale protests demanding justice, jobs, better healthcare, and improved infrastructure in the Rif region.
Zefzafi was arrested in May 2017 after interrupting a Friday sermon at a mosque in Al Hoceima and accusing the imam of delivering a politically charged message against the protest movement. Authorities later accused him of undermining state security and organizing unauthorized protests.
In June 2018, a court in Casablanca sentenced Zefzafi and three other Hirak activists to 20 years in prison. The court handed down sentences ranging from 1 to 20 years to 54 activists in total, in a trial that sparked widespread criticism from local and international human rights organizations.
Despite the passage of time, human rights groups and supporters continue to call for the release of Hirak detainees.
