When the Arms Of The Moroccan Regime Fall Off

After shedding crocodile tears over French writer Boualem Sansal in defense of freedom of expression, the Moroccan regime’s proxies went against this conviction in a similar but less favorable case for the Alawite regime, pointing their arrows at a Moroccan human rights activist who called for a referendum in Western Sahara, just as the United Nations is demanding.

In a video circulating on social media, Aziz Ghali, president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, called for a referendum in Western Sahara. Ghali was asked about the association’s position on the Western Sahara issue and replied: ‘The position of the association on the Western Sahara issue is clear, it is in favor of the self-determination of the Sahrawi people.’

The journalist commented on this statement, describing it as ‘dangerous talk’. However, Aziz Ghali reiterated his position, saying: ‘It is not dangerous. This is the position of the association. When negotiations began between the Moroccan state and the Polisario Front, our position became to call for a negotiated solution that satisfies all parties and avoids war in the region.’

The Moroccan human rights defender stressed that the solution should not be within the framework of autonomy, before asking ‘why is Morocco negotiating the file if autonomy alone is the solution?’, noting that ‘negotiation means that there is an ongoing discussion and the matter is not resolved, and the position of the association is to reach a solution that is satisfactory to all parties, not a solution at the expense of another party.’

These statements caused a stir in the political and media scenes in the Alawite Kingdom, to the point that there were unconfirmed rumours that Aziz Ghali had been arrested by Moroccan security services.
For the Moroccan regime, the issue of Western Sahara is a red line, as stated by more than one Moroccan official.

In response to these provocative statements, the arms of the Moroccan regime and its electronic flies were quick to accuse the president of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights of ‘working for Algeria’, which Aziz Ghali had denied in the aforementioned video, given that such a statement undermines the official narrative of the Moroccan Kingdom, which has been emphasized by King Mohammed VI and other officials, led by Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, who repeated every time that there is no solution to the Western Sahara issue outside the so-called “autonomy plan” presented by the Moroccan regime in 2007.

Moroccan media outlets have accused Aziz Ghali of ‘losing his compass’ and ‘losing the respect of many’ for his statements on Western Sahara while another person, Mohammed al-Zahari, claimed that Aziz Ghali’s statements do not change the status of the Sahara as part of Moroccan territory, as he claimed.

In a tweet on the ‘X’ platform, Moroccan journalist Ali Lamrabet, who lives outside Morocco, spoke about the rumors of Aziz Ghali’s arrest, but he quickly denied them, pointing out that the positions of Aziz Ghali and his human rights association on the Sahrawi issue are not new and date back to the period of the late Moroccan King Hassan II, yet the human rights defender was subjected to a campaign of intimidation and working for foreign agendas, in reference to Algeria.

This incident reveals how the arms of the Moroccan regime deal with some free voices when it comes to the Sahrawi issue, noting that these arms strongly defended Boualem Sansal when he was arrested in Algeria for his statements, which are not based on any historical or political justification, as the French historian Benjamin Stora said a few days ago.