Morocco: A day Of Joy!

NORA FITZGERALD

04/14/11

Marrakech / Morocco Board News---  Today is a day of joy!  My sister’s brother in-law has been released from prison after serving 3 years as a political detainee.  He had been sentenced to 20 years, then 10 years after appealing.  Words can’t describe the immense waves of joy that are washing over his family and loved ones.

in the photo, Abad is holding his son on the left and my little nephew on the right.  His son is 9 years old, and hasn’t seen his father out of prison since he was 6.  I think they are all pretty stunned.  They are at a press conference immediately following Abad’s release.

I thank God the Merciful.  I thank the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen who are risking their lives so that things change on a deep level, so that no more people will be imprisoned for political reasons.  I thank the people of Morocco who protested peacefully to bring about change.  I thank the King of Morocco for initiating the constitutional reform that lead to the freeing of these detainees.  I thank the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) which recommended the pardons to the king.

I had written about Abad’s case a little a year ago (when he had undertaken an 18 day hunger strike, but then stopped doing so because there was no good news to report.  How about this for a happy ending?!

It’s wonderful and momentous to feel the winds of change blowing through this land.

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Comments (9)  

 

0 #1 publicity stuns to divert from the core issues — couscous king 2011-04-14 13:38

don't you agree, it's a fact , why now, why not 5 years or 10 years ago, this is a calculate political stuns to soften the cruel and the dark image of the moroccan govt , if you can't see it then i don't know what to tell you , c'mon.

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0 #2 COMMENT_TITLE_R E Morocco: A day Of Joy! — Morcelli 2011-04-14 21:56

Good for him and his family, hopefully the remaining 1000's of innocent that are rotting in jail will get the same blessing.

These tidbits gimmicks to calm the masses will not work, because the countries that you thanked started their revolutions not because of human rights, they overthrow their dictators due to injustice and poverty. Human rights was last on their mind.

I am not sure that the Moroccan government can keep the calm and everyone will go about their business.
Life for Moroccans is degrading, the poor is getting poorer and the rich is getting richer, This is not joyful.

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0 #3 Congratulations indeed! — man en blanc 2011-04-14 22:49

Great news Nora, the release of "political" detainees is a first and a positive step toward a brighter future for our nation. It is a harbinger for wonderful things to come.
Now, if only we can fix the traffic in Casablanca, the sky's the limit!

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0 #4 COMMENT_TITLE_R E Morocco: A day Of Joy! — ahmed zouheir 2011-04-14 22:50

l7amdoulillah 3la slamtou.

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0 #5 Live and let live — Morcelli 2011-04-15 06:28

Man en blanc my friend, you are asking for too much when you say "if only we can fix the traffic in Casablanca",
if we do that, the cop will not take rashwa, the employee in the commisarriya will not take the rashwa, the towing track driver who shows up 10 hour later will not take rashwa, the gendarmes at the entrance of casabalanca will not take rashwa, the mechanic will not install damaged parts that he purchased for almost nothing.
Please don't forget the gardiyanat who are all over the place because lqayd handed them a booklet or a fake authorization so that he gets the biggest part of the pizza.

Live and let live, why fix the traffic when many are making a living out of the fiasco.

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0 #6 State of Nation — mbt 2011-04-15 23:14

Why should there be political detainees in the first place and why do you need to thank the ruler? Is it not he who is the in charge silencing any opposition? Only yesterday travelling on a bus which was overcrowded, smelling, falling appart, the shambolic turnstile entry to the bus which if you are a child knocks you on the head as a child enters, , when asked why not complain, passenger said who to? Who is listening and besides it is better not to say then say. So much for thanking the ruler who is in town, seeing the police scurrying about makes one wonder about protecting the leader who can not protect himself from his on demise someday.

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0 #7 THE ARSONIST IN CHIEF — sahrane 2011-04-16 11:36

Well ,people are thanking the king ,to cover their ass,if you think about it like thanking an arsonist for putting out the fire,and when all said and done,those same people they ‘ll be the first to take the credit and claim loudly they were for the change all along, like what happen to people who fought for independence ,those who didn’t get killed by the French they get bruch aside or eliminated by the collaborators who took the credit ,and the country to hell with it ,and their sons and grandsons still riding the wave ,and the king on the helm.

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0 #8 COMMENT_TITLE_R E Morocco: A day Of Joy! — Morcelli 2011-04-16 22:49

"I thank the King of Morocco for initiating the constitutional reform that lead to the freeing of these detainees."
The one person I would thank is your sister’s brother in-law who had the courage to state his opinion and paid the high price of not seeing his son for years.
I would thank him because he has gotten tired of living as a subject instead of a Moroccan.
I would thank him because he chose to be who he is and say what he wants knowing that it is risky business.
The king is under tremendous pressure and fear to lose it all. He has to come up with gimmicks to calm the masses, the poor, the hungry, and jobless.
Kings are no longer luxuries, they are being held accountable for taking over all aspect of the country's life.
The poor, the hungry, and the jobless can no longer hand carte blanche to kings and the reason is very simple, they have nothing to lose.

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0 #9 THE DOCTOR IS SICK — sahrane 2011-04-20 09:25

You cannot stand by and ,witness the outrageous attack on human basics rights ,like putting people in the slammer for having a different thinking and aspirations like the gentlemen ,who get released from jail ,I don’t espouse their politicoreligio us convictions but ,they have a right to do so ,and here he comes again,the king pardoned prisoners who shouldn’t have been arrested in the first place ,and people rolling over themselves to thank the guy who ordred them jailed directly or indirectly .Well the time is come for the king and his cronies to taste their own medicine.

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