Amnesty International calls Morocco to cancel death sentence

Director General of Amnesty International in Morocco Mohamed Al Sektawy called the Moroccan government for implementing the recommendations of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission related to the cancellation of death sentences for all ages. He criticized the Moroccan approach in this regard, saying that it adopts policies fully contradicting with the statements issued by the Moroccan officials.
He added, in an interview with “Arabs Today” on the sideline of the press conference organized to present the annual report issued by the Amnesty International over the death sentence, “Death sentence in Morocco has been suspended for over 25 years without the issuance of a clear law to cancel it.” He added that the Moroccan government suffers from adopting double standard positions.
He underlined, “The Moroccan government refused to vote for the resolution taken by the UN General Assembly to finally suspend the death sentence.” He noted that the Moroccan authorities sentenced six persons to death during 2016.
He added that the Moroccan government should take into account that over 38 Afrrican states turned to cancel the death sentences, expressing his aspiration that the country’s return to the membership of the African Union would inspire them to take the same step in the near future. He added that 38 percent of the countries that implement the death sentences from the Arab countries and Pakistan in addition to Iran.
He called the new government for taking serious measures to cancel the death sentence in the near future, expressing his appreciation to the Moroccan political parties that submitted formal proposals to cancel the death sentence.