These detainees who are incarcerated in 07 prisons enjoy all the rights granted to them by law, said the DGAPR in a clarification on the joint statement of Human Right Watch and Amnesty International on the detention conditions of detention of detainees in connection with the Gdim Izig events.
The same source notes that the press release in question is “clearly biased”, insofar as it only reproduces the unfounded allegations of the families of the detainees concerned and since it remains silent on the fate of the people they killed and whose bodies they have soiled and that of their families and it ignores the proven fact that they were only hired killers in the pay of the Algerian state.
The DGAPR specifies that these detainees are housed in naturally ventilated and lit cells, benefit from family visits, collective catering provided by private companies, warm water baths and lit playgrounds, noting that they have in their cells television sets broadcasting the sports channels of BeIN Sports, fixed telephone lines and the possibility of making purchases of various products in the prison canteens and can receive from their own products and food on the occasion of religious holidays.
As for health care, they benefit from the prison health service and, if necessary, in extramural health facilities, according to the DGAPR.
In addition, these prisoners enjoy their full right to continue their studies and benefit for this purpose the means that the administrations of the penitentiaries concerned provide them to prepare their exams and dissertations, which allows them to obtain university degrees in prison, notes the same source, making known that they are treated with dignity and on the same footing as the entire prison population.
However, for humanitarian reasons, they can enjoy other benefits, says the clarification, explaining that in terms of family visits, for example, given that they come from distant provinces to visit them, the administrations of the penitentiaries grant them additional facilities in terms of duration and frequency of visits, number of visitors … etc, according to the DGAPR.
Concerning the alleged hunger strikes described as “continuous” by the press release, besides the fact that these detainees only announce to engage in it from time to time, they do not observe it altogether, their only objective being to draw attention to their cases, to gain the sympathy of NGOs hostile to Morocco and thus deceive public opinion, the DGAPR says.
As for the alleged “arbitrary isolation”, it is rather individual cells in which these detainees are housed at their request, knowing that those they occupy are adjacent, according to the same source.
As for the allegations of ill-treatment and torture that these detainees have suffered according to the statement, they are unfounded, derived directly from false complaints that members of their families disseminate through various media and other means and transmit to their accomplices abroad in the context of disinformation campaigns and propaganda, notes the DGAPR.
Regarding the transfer requests made by these prisoners to prisons located in the southern provinces of the Kingdom, they have not been met because of the length of sentence they are serving, knowing that 4 of them are incarcerated in penitentiaries located in these provinces and 4 others in two institutions located in a neighboring province, it notes.
Several of them are transferred to prisons in the Southern Provinces for specific periods of time, due to the advanced age and / or health status of their relatives, according to the DGAPR.
