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Rabat – Morocco’s League for the Defense of Human Rights has called for an investigation into the bar examination results which stirred frustration and anger over the past week.
Controversy erupted in Morocco last week following the announcement of the candidates who passed the bar exam.
As leaked lists of the results show similarities in the surnames of people who passed the exam, many Moroccans questioned the legitimacy of the results and called for an investigation into favoritism suspicions.
Many candidates and law students took to social media to share their anger and frustration, accusing justice authorities of “nepotism” and “favoritism.”
‘Conflict of interests’
In response to the situation, the central office of the Moroccan Human Rights Defense League stressed that it has received “dozens of requests” from many candidates who failed the exam for an investigation into the results.
The league also recalled the suspicions of the “conflict of interests” due to the “appearance of the names of some of the members of the examination’ supervising committee” on the lists of passing candidates.
On Wednesday, more controversy arose over the bar exam after converging news reports revealed that a senior official who was supposed to oversee the exam had his name on one of the lists.
The news of Moulay Said Charfi — the director of the department of Equipment and Property Management at the ministry of justice — featuring among passing candidates added more fuel to the already simmering wave of public criticism and anger.
Responding to the favoritism allegations, the Minister of Justice had said on Monday that the results were genuine because the tests were graded and computed by “machines and not humans.”
Read also: Morocco’s Justice Minister Issues Half-Hearted Apology Amid Nepotism Allegations
Faced with questions to justify the similarities in the surnames of many of the passing candidates, Ouahbi said that people who bear similar names and passed the exam are also citizens of Morocco.
“How many of them passed the exams? 60 or 70 out of 2,000 people who made it?” he said.
In particular, the minister rejected calls for an investigation into the case, saying that “this is not a crime for an investigation to be opened.”
Ouahbi also sparked outrage with a controversial remark on his son’s foreign education.
When a journalist asked the minister whether his son had also passed the exam, he said: “My son has two bachelor degrees from Montreal… His father is rich and paid for his education abroad.”
The statement’s evident contempt enraged many Moroccan netizens.
In response to the wave of criticism, Ouahbi said he felt “provoked” by the journalist’s question, stressing: “If some journalists manipulate what he said or edited videos to manipulate what he said, people listening should be reasonable.”
The minister also said he “apologies if people misinterpreted what he said.”
