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Join on Telegram Rabat – On January 17, Tangier’s Court of First Instance accepted the request for provisional release submitted by the defense counsel of activist Fatima Zohra Ould Belaid.
The judges responded favorably to the request for a provisional release, after having repeatedly declined it.
Zohra Oulad Belaid, 30, is known for her activism in the “February 20 Movement,” the Moroccan iteration of the 2011 Arab Spring. She is also active in several NGOs such as the Moroccan branch of the French Association for the Taxation of financial Transactions and Citizen’s Action (ATTAC).
Police arrested Ould Belaid in November on allegations of organizing illegal protests at the University of Tangier. The protests followed the Minister of Education’s decision to introduce a new recruitment policy for education jobs.
Minister Chakib Benmoussa introduced a new policy, setting the age limit required to join the education sector at 30. The policy also includes other requirements such as imposing a new pre-selection procedure and a cover letter from candidates.
Many graduates and students majoring in Education Sciences and related-fields protested against the new policy in several demonstrations across Morocco last year.
Ould Belaid is additionally facing charges of “breach of trust in an employer and incitement to commit crimes.” An NGO, where the activist worked in Tangier, filed the complaint against her in August 2021.
After Belaid’s arrest, the collective “Moroccan Women Against Political Detention,” which brings together women human rights defenders of different ideologies, and several other NGOs demanded the “immediate and unconditional” release of Ould Belaid.
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