Three detainees in Moroccan prisons have committed suicide over the past six weeks.
Yesterday, the suicide of a third detainee was announced. The detainee was imprisoned in Sale, the city adjacent to the Moroccan capital, Rabat.
Morocco’s General Delegation for Prisons and Reintegration Administration (GDPRA), an official body, made the announcement. The detainee’s family have been informed, the Delegation said.
Few other details were provided by the GDPRA, including the prisoner’s name. However, it is known that the detainee was being held on terrorism charges.
In March, the GDPRA announced that a detainee in Fez’s Ras al-Ma prison had committed suicide. The detainee was also convicted using anti-terrorism laws.
That second announcement came just day one after the first case of suicide in a Moroccan prison this year. In the first case, a prisoner took their life in the local prison of Oujda, in the country’s east.
Again, they were being held on terrorism charges.
Conditions in Morocco’s prisons are widely acknowledged as harsh. The number of detainees has increased by nearly 65% since 2000.
Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights requires that prisoners ‘shall be treated with humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.’
