On the same day that Dick Marty, the Swiss senator investigating into alleged CIA secret prisons in Europe, claimed that there is evidence the US “outsourced torture�? to other countries and it is likely that European governments knew about it, the Turkish press was reporting Moroccan security forces as have arrested 31 of their own colleagues in the police and prison administration on charges of torture. The Turkish press (Turkish Daily News- Ankara) said they were quoting a Moroccan a justice ministry spokesman. "They face legal action under the new law banning torture," said the official, who asked not to be named, explaining that the 17 police officers, nine prison officials and five gendarmes were picked up last year. The kingdom was the first Arabic-speaking nation to introduce legislation outlawing torture, which was passed by parliament in October 2005. The law provides for prison terms of between five and 15 years for anyone convicted of the offense. "The ministry will see that everything is done to prevent such abuse by the agents of the authorities and if it is established that any one of them has broken the law, he will be pursued for it," the official said.
While The View from Fez can not substantiate this report we do note that Justice Minister Cemil Cicek went to Morocco on Saturday evening as the guest of Moroccan Justice Minister Mohamed Bouzoubaa.
Speaking to reporters before his departure in Istanbul, Cicek said that the Moroccan Justice Minister visited Turkey a short time ago. ''We will sign a protocol on judicial cooperation,'' Cicek added.
Moroccan Justice Minister Mohamed Bouzoubaa welcomed Cicek when he arrived in Rabat, Morocco late Saturday. Noting that the judicial cooperation protocol would be signed on Monday, Bouzoubaa said that the protocol urged cooperation in countering terrorism and organized crime.
Cicek's visit will last three days.Tags: Morocco, Fes, Maghreb, news
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