Rabat – After being postponed the first time because of the presence of media, and a second time for the unruly behavior of the defendants during the hearing, the criminal chamber of Casablanca’s appeal court decided, on Tuesday, to delay for the third time the Hirak activists trial to November 21st.
Nasser Zefzafi, El Hoceima protests leader, has a knack for being expelled from the courtroom. On November 7, he was again kicked out from the hearing held in Casablanca Court of Appeal, where he was appearing along with 53 other activists accused of carrying violent acts in Al Hoceima events.
During the hearing, Zefzafi contested the presence of local media’s cameras by chanting slogans in the room. For the Attorney General, Zefzafi was expelled “after disrupting the hearing by speaking without permission,” adding to the Maghreb Press Agency (MAP) that “the judge of the court later allowed the other accused to leave the courtroom at their request.”
The Attorney General also noted that the hearing, which took place in the presence of members of the families of the suspects and various media outlets, was marked by legal exchanges between the parties.
After their involvement in the social movement in the Rif region in the North of Morocco, demanding jobs, healthcare and other social demands, the activists are facing numerous charges, including “undermining the State’s domestic security, sabotaging, killing and looting, accepting money and other material means to fund propaganda meant to prejudice Morocco’s unity and sovereignty, shaking citizens’ loyalty towards the Moroccan State and institutions, organizing unauthorized protest and holding unauthorized public rallies.”
